Diagnosis: Pregnancy
by Disneylover95
Summary: Allison Cameron and Robert Chase try to juggle their relationship, a pregnancy, and the snarkiness from their boss all while completing Doctor House's mystery cases. Irregular Updates
1. Slightly Less Impossible

**AN- I'm changing some of the timelines and events but most of the story and characters should remain true to the show, especially up to the third season but Thirteen's role has been moved up for this story because in the words of House "She's interesting". I love the team dynamic between Foreman, Chase, and Cameron. I don't own anything but I love watching House MD.I hope you enjoy.  
**

"Hello. I'm Doctor Cameron, what seems to be the problem today?" the brunette doctor asked as she entered Clinic Room Two and looked at the woman sitting before her.

"I've been having pains in my arm. Like sharp…. But then they get dull…. Then they get sharp again. It's been going on for the past week…" Cameron nodded as she picked up the patient's chart to look at her history. A middle aged Hispanic woman with no children and no preexisting conditions so she's not on any medication.

"Well, let's start with basics. Deep breath for me." Dr. Allison Cameron instructed as she held the stethoscope to the woman's chest. "Hmm, breathing and heart rate is normal…."

"Of course. It's my arm that hurts not my chest" the patient said confidently. The brunette smiled reassuringly.

"Just trying to establish a baseline…. Next, I'll…." Cameron's knees buckled and she slumped forward.

"Are you alright?" the woman asked quickly as the doctor fell forward. "Oh my god! Help! Help! Help!" she started screaming for someone. "The doctor- Oh my god! Help!"

Chase, Foreman and their boss Dr. House were walking in the hallway discussing their last case when they heard the hysterical shouts from the room nearest to them. The three quickly went into the room and found Cameron unconscious and the poor patient screaming. "Alli!" Chase said looking at his girlfriend, picking her up. "House, get the door." He held her bridal style and was mentally trying to figure out how long it had been since they heard the patient screaming to determine how long since she collapsed.

House spoke first, trying to restore order. "Chase, stay here with the patient… err... clinic patient. Foreman, you take Cameron to Cuddy. Get IVs… and whatever else she deems necessary then meet me upstairs for the new case." They had closed the door to the exam room and were standing in the hallway, Cameron in Chase's arms. He'd started heading towards the Trauma Bay where he knew Cuddy was filling in today due to a shortage of staff. "Chase. Stay. Here." House repeated slowly.

"No." The blonde Australian practically growled, Foreman was at a loss. He'd never seen the other doctor react that way, but he knew House didn't like to be directly disobeyed by his team. Chase didn't want to leave her. He was worried about her especially considering she'd been complaining of some headaches lately and just generally feeling 'off'…. If something happened to her….

"Foreman is stronger, it'd be better for him to carry her. You're more personable… stay here. Pretty doctors calm frantic patients." House smirked before turning to the exam room door. House snapped in the direction of the hysterical patient. "Will someone shut her up?! Her screaming is giving me a headache." Chase was about to argue but thought better of it. Foreman carefully took the unconscious doctor from Chase and took her to where Cuddy was helping out in Trauma.

"Chase, you go in and see the patient… Foreman will make sure Cameron is okay while you check out Mrs. Screamer…" House repeated once the other two had left.

"Why don't you?… I'm going to make sure _my girlfriend_ is okay…" He started to follow Foreman, but House put his cane down so Chase couldn't move any farther. "Why are you such an ass?"

His question might have amused House in any other context but not when one of his Doctors had fainted. "Nope. I told you to do it, Mr. Yesman. Besides, I make it point not to see hysterical women. They make my head hurt… Bye bye." With that he went upstairs to check on their newest case because it was a mystery and he liked mysteries.

Chase groaned and opened the door. The woman still looked terrified but she was silent. "Is she okay?" her words were rushed but quiet. "She-she fell… She's okay?"

"Yes. She's fine." Chase lied as he picked up Mrs. Gutiérrez's chart and glanced at it. "You said something about pain in your arm…" He was worried for his girlfriend, but knew he had to help this patient before he had any chance at seeing Cameron.

"Are you going to pass out too?" the woman interrupted, looking worried. Chase shook his head. The woman didn't look convinced. "What happened to her?"

"Let's get you checked out, yeah?" he asked putting on the stethoscope he'd removed from Cameron. "See if we can find the root of your pain…" she nodded as though she wasn't sure how to act. "Deep breath…"

* * *

"Hey, you're awake." Robert Chase smiled as he sat next to Allison Cameron's bed and she slowly opened her eyes. She blinked as his blue eyes came into focus and she smiled. "Hey."

She blinked and looked around, disoriented. "Head hurts…what? What happened?"

"You collapsed… You're on an IV." He explained when she tried to move her arm to better sit up and she winced. "You did hit your head when you fell… but you don't have a concussion… at least Cuddy doesn't think so…."

"My head hurts." She repeated softly. He nodded, taking her hand in his. Her eyes widened as she remembered "I was with a patient!"

"Who is now on some painkillers for her arm pain. She went home. She's fine…" Chase said, but he was more worried about her. "They did some tests…. Just checking to make sure you're okay…"

"Are you pregnant?" A new voice entered, amusement written all over his face.

"Why are you here, House?" Cameron asked, waking up, her hazel eyes glaring at him. At least she was feeling well enough to call him out.

"We have a case." The Head of Diagnostics said shrugging. "But my question still stands… Dizziness is common in early pregnancy." He added smugly.

"Fainting's not." Cameron said automatically as she looked to her boyfriend. "I'm not pregnant. I just…"

"Didn't eat. Your blood sugar is really low." Lisa Cuddy said entering the room with some results from the lab work. "House, go away. You've got a patient upstairs, Foreman said something about a blind girl when he came in…"

"Cameron's one of my doctors. She takes priority…. Plus I like her more than whoever is making my life difficult upstairs." The man answered sitting next to Chase, stretching his feet. "Besides, I'm missing half my team with Chase in here too." Cuddy sighed and ignored him, turning to the younger woman lying in the bed.

"So ask Thirteen." Chase said, annoyed with the older man's presence. "That's why she's here isn't she?" But she was new and House didn't completely trust her yet, not as much as he trusted Chase, Cameron, and Foreman.

Cuddy turned to Cameron for explanation on why she hadn't eaten lunch. "I was busy…. And forgot to eat…. Plus I wasn't very hungry anyway." Cameron said simply. "I had some toast early this morning before I came in today but that's it. I was feeling nauseous…"

"Also a symptom of pregnancy." House spoke up from the chair he was lounging in. Chase looked like he was going to punch his boss and Cameron looked furious.

"House!" Cuddy spoke sharply to him. "Leave the room."

"Fine, I'll be quiet. Don't get snippy. Hormones are crazy things, you know…." He muttered under his breath. "especially in—"

"It's just food poisoning. I made some chicken last night but it must have been bad…." Cameron said confidently, albeit defensively. "I just wasn't feeling well, but it's nothing. I forgot to eat today… it's no big deal. What'd the tests show?"

"You're pregnant…. And in denial." House added, craning his neck to try to see the paperwork in his boss's hand, but she'd folded it for that exact reason, knowing he was nosy.

"OUT!" Cuddy pointed towards the door and Gregory House slunk out of the room.

"I'm not leaving." Doctor Robert Chase said firmly, even if Cuddy tried to make him leave, he wanted to make sure Allison was alright.

Cuddy sighed once it was just the three of them in the room. "No, _you_ can stay, Doctor Chase. We took some blood just to do some routine tests….." she passed the paperwork to the other female doctor who looked it over. Everything seemed normal except her glucose and…

"HCG levels are present…but I'm not pregnant! That's impossible…" Cameron whispered looking over the results. But she knew it wasn't impossible. For the past week or so she'd been feeling dizzy and nauseous and just feeling 'off' from her normal self. She was also a few weeks late, but her period was often sporadic. She'd put everything down to stress at work, but she knew it wasn't. Cameron knew she was pregnant. She just didn't want it to be true; now was just not the right time.

"When was the last time you had sex?" Cuddy asked with all the professionalism that House lacked. All three were glad he was out of the room.

Chase and Cameron shared a look and both blushed. "Okay, so it's slightly less impossible…completely probable that I might be pregnant…" She whispered and Chase squeezed her hand lovingly. She sighed. "Don't tell House, I know he'll have a field day because I was so adamant it was just a temporary bug…"

"We'll have to tell him eventually…Probably sooner than later" Chase pointed out with a slight smile. She knew that, but if House knew, they'd never hear the end of it.

"Not today… Don't tell anyone yet? Please?" She looked at him and begged. He nodded. He kissed her forehead and she smiled.

"Of course…We can tell them whenever you want." Chase said quietly. He leaned back into the chair and sighed quietly to himself. This was big, but they'd talked about getting married and having kids… eventually…. so they were just speeding up the timeline now, is all.

Cuddy handed Cameron a glass of water and smiled to her. "Don't stress. Everything will be alright… Just don't let House push your buttons." The younger Doctor smiled at that. "But don't forget to eat…. Especially with all the blood pressure changes, an empty stomach will cause the dizziness to get worse." Cuddy reminded her.

"Thanks." She took a sip. "I'm sorry about earlier…" She looked at Chase and half-smiled.

He grinned and shook his head. "You're okay, that's all that matters…. Though Mrs. Gutiérrez might not return to PPTH in the future…lest any other doctors faint on her" Cameron laughed but still felt guilty. They looked and saw Brianna, a nurse, watching the room.

"Tell them I'm sorry." She blushed, embarrassed because she knew many other staff had been curious about what happened because they'd no doubt seen Foreman carrying her or House or Chase or something. Whenever a hospital staff member was brought into emergency, especially from another department, word traveled fast. She didn't doubt that the hospital was now gossiping about how Doctor Cameron had fainted during a Clinic Case.

"Just don't forget to eat something, even if you're not hungry…." He said lightly. He studied her critically.

She spoke up to defend herself. "Hey! I did have breakfast this morning… at like six thirty….I had some toast…" Her voice got smaller as she continued because she knew she just proved his point.

"Almost eight hours ago?" Chase asked her, half teasing, half concerned. But he smiled when she blushed and accepted the granola bar he dug out of his pocket.

"But what about you? I know you were working during lunch today, too" She challenged. Normally she doesn't skip meals but with the nausea, she figured it would be better to…. But she was wrong about that today and she knew it.

"I had something more filling than toast this morning." He said and grinned while she rolled her eyes, half amused. He groaned when his pager went off. "Ugh. I swear I'm gonna kill him…." He muttered about House as he glanced at the screen before making his way upstairs to Diagnostics. _ROMEO GET UP HERE NOW!_

"Just don't get caught." Cuddy said with a smile and Cameron laughed. "You won't do well in prison…" She was feeling better, but Cuddy suggested she rest for a bit. "House has Chase, Foreman, and Thirteen to help him…." Cameron knew the other woman was right.

* * *

"The prodigal duckling returns!" House smirked when Chase entered Diagnostics. Chase glared at him but said nothing. He wasn't in the mood to engage House just yet. Foreman blinked, normally Chase would never think to upset House and he'd just take whatever insults thrown at him but this was twice he'd disobeyed. He gave a questioning glance to the blonde who shook his head.

"New case?" Chase asked looking at Thirteen. She nodded and looked at him curiously. She was new, having been here only a few weeks, but House already tried comparing her to Cameron. Neither woman liked that, so House repeated it as often as he could. "What'd I miss?"

"Didn't miss much. Just running through differentials…" She smiled at him reassuringly. He smiled back gratefully. "You okay?" she asked softly. "You seem a million miles away."

"Just thinking is all" He said. House studied the younger man.

"She okay?" Greg House asked, concerned for Cameron. Chase blinked in surprise, he would have expected the first thing House to say about Cameron's fainting and lack of attendance here would be another assertion of pregnancy or he'd try to diagnose her with a parasite or something, just because he could. Robert Chase just nodded and tried to push the thought from his mind.

"Fine. Just resting. What's up with the patient?" Chase said, trying to shift his thoughts from his pregnant girlfriend to the latest mystery case.

House grinned, loving a challenge. "Fifteen year old girl, blind…. Or half blind. Apparently it changes. Oh, and occasionally her hearing disappears. But that part is rare. Tunnel vision. She's funny though, normally the girl's hearing is impeccable since she's had to compensate. Mommy and Daddy are with her now."

"Brain tumor?" Chase asked. House pointed to the board, some of their differentials had been crossed out. Brain Tumor wasn't even listed.

"If she has one, it didn't show up on CT or MRI…." House said. "She was referred by Union Hospital…. I hate referral cases."

"We know" Chase said quickly so he wouldn't go on a tangent and Foreman nodded, House would complain about every referral case they got because of other places' screw-ups.

"Just means we're hopefully smarter than they are." Foreman joked. House frowned at that.

"Don't get cocky, Foreman." House smirked. "You're not smarter than anybody if you don't solve the case."

* * *

"Melody?" Chase asked as he opened the door to the girl's room. Her father was slumped in a chair asleep and her mother had gone to the cafeteria. House sent Chase in to ask the patient her history. "My name is Doctor Chase…."

"You'll fix me?" she asked, not looking at him. He bit his lip.

"We'll do our best." He promised. "Your history… it says…"

"I was born blind. I've been blind for as long as I can remember." She said simply, no stranger to doctor's questions. "But then it got better…. Then it gets worse again. I'll never be able to drive." She added softly. Chase felt bad for the younger girl.

"No, but you're in school… what do you want to be when you're older?" He asked, trying to get her to relax and trust him. He found talking to patients about their interests made them comfortable.

She didn't smile. "Not blind…. But I know what you mean. I hope I can do ceramics…." She blushed and added "You can mold the clay into whatever you want. Doesn't require sight." Chase smiled and so did she. He stepped over to her and checked her vitals. "You sound… different… your words…."

He laughed "I'm Australian."

"Oh." She said softly and her mouth fell open in surprise. "Why are you here then?" Chase blinked and almost laughed at the look on her face.

"Curious?" He asked amused. Most patients didn't take an interest in their doctor's lives…. But when you're a blind teenager maybe that's all you can do?

"Bored." She admitted and sighed. "I'm not allowed to listen to music or my books or anything since I got here…. The don't want me to 'ruin' my hearing… it comes in waves." She groaned frustrated. "The hearing thing has only started this past month. As if being the blind freak wasn't enough, I have to be occasionally deaf, too." Chase listened sympathetically.

"Describe for me what it's like when you can see?" Chase asked, writing down her words exactly.

"Blurry… I see colors and blurry things sometimes… I can tell a tree because it's brown and green blobs but other than the blobs and the blurs…. I don't know. Most of the time it's not like that…. But I see flashes of… I guess… white? It's bright and it hurts my eyes." she shrugged. "I've gotten pretty good at adapting…. But now things are all screwed up."

Chase nodded and wrote all of this down. "You can continue if you want…" But Melody got quiet when Foreman entered the room to do some tests. Thirteen came in to take the girl for an MRI because even though she'd had it done at Union Hospital, House wanted them to do one.

"You look like Hell…" Foreman said, eyeing Chase once they were gathering data alone. "Any word on Cameron?" He was worried about the other woman because she was unresponsive when he carried her.

"Hypoglycemia. She was busy with work and didn't eat." Chase said matter-of-factedly. He didn't mention the reason that she didn't eat was because she had morning sickness. "When I left she was annoyed with all the tests they did…"

"Standard procedure when a collapse victim doesn't wake up immediately." Foreman reminded his coworker as though he wasn't a doctor himself.

"I know that. She does, too. She just thought it was unnecessary." He sighed, "But how many 'unnecessary' routine tests have we done where we found something…? But Cameron's fine. Just didn't eat since breakfast." She's also pregnant, but that was beside the point.

Foreman nodded and smiled. "Sometimes I worry about that girl. She just gets so invested in the medicine….and forgets to care for herself…"

Chase knew why and so did House, but Foreman didn't know she was a widow and didn't want to see any family go through what she did. "She just wants to help people." He sighed. "But you're right." he gave a small smile. "Cameron worries a lot about her patients, more so than she cares about herself" Foreman nodded, remembering how much Cameron cared deeply about every case they had and how invested she got. Suddenly, Chase looked at Foreman and smirked "House is mad at you."

"He's always mad at me. What is it this time?" the other man asked his coworker. Chase shrugged. He saw it from the moment he walked in the room that House was in a bad mood and Foreman wasn't helping. Honestly, he and Cameron probably weren't helping either but he was glad House decided to take it out on Foreman instead of them.

* * *

"Fine as long as you don't fall over with this patient…." They heard House yelling. "You shouldn't be seeing patients today…"

"Right because there's only allowed to be one ill doctor at the hospital." Cameron snapped in response.

"Vicodin versus fainting…." House answered smugly as Foreman and Chase entered the Conference Room. "But you're looking better." He said approvingly.

"I had some food. Cuddy cleared me to come up. I'm fine" She muttered and House raised an eyebrow but remained silent. "The MRI showed…?"

"Nothing yet." Chase said, relieved she was up and about.

"Of course." Cameron rolled her eyes impatiently. Though she knew the tests weren't even finished yet. She just wanted to concentrate on work not anything else. She and Chase shared a look but neither one said anything. Too many ears to discuss anything unrelated to Melody.

"What was that?" House demanded. "You two shared a look…. You looked at each other…"

"No we didn't." They both said simply. He frowned but ignored them.

"Liars." Everybody lies. It was one of the few things House made very clear to all his team when they first began working for him. "Whatever. Not important. Just do your job." He shoved the girl's chart at Cameron. He muttered sending his Original Three into the room to talk to the patient's parents while Thirteen finished the MRIs.

The Mom was in the middle of talking about some of the therapies they'd tried when Melody was nine when Cameron put her hand to her mouth and immediately ran to the trash can, retching into it. She then left to go to the bathroom with the trashcan to clean herself up. Chase and Foreman looked at her concerned and Melody's Mom paled at the sight. "Food poisoning." House was lying through his teeth, not that he cared "Don't eat the hamburger from the cafeteria."

"That's what I just ate…" She gasped and held her stomach. House rolled his eyes; he hated placebos.

"Then that sucks to be you, doesn't it?" House said pompously, turning to his team. "Foreman continue grilling Mrs. Whatever on her darling daughter's enchanting history. And because I know you're going to do it anyway, Chase, check on her. Once she's… feeling better…Have Cameron go lie down on the couch in my office… she's off patient duty for the remainder of the day and have her take tomorrow off because I'm sure Cuddy will have my head if I don't." Thirteen and Melody returned to find House and Foreman talking with Melody's parents and her mom laying down with an empty wash basin next to her. The brunette looked curiously at the eldest doctor. "Food poisoning." House responded cheerfully. "Don't ask for details…. Mommy's looking a bit green, doesn't she?"

Foreman glanced at House, sure he was hiding something, but not wanting to ask. He knew House would just say he was being paranoid and stick him with all the clinic duty he didn't want to deal with.


	2. Chasing Zebras

**AN- Again, I don't own anything you recognize. I'm not a doctor...yet :) But I enjoy learning about different diseases.**

Chase and Cameron were discussing the latest results from Melody's tests while they were alone in the Diagnostics Room. Chase was bringing her up to speed since Cameron had stayed home for a few days due to her bad morning sickness, but now she was back. Only Cuddy knew for sure that she was pregnant, but they knew House was convinced… he'd been the first to point it out a few days before, after all. They agreed he should know by the end of the day, but he'd be one of the few coworkers to know. Foreman and Thirteen were 'checking' the Chung household because Thirteen 'needed the expertise in that area' as a member of House's team. Even though they knew there was no risk of being overhead, they kept the discussion to the topic of the case and not the fact that she was pregnant. There'd be lots of time to discuss everything relating to that when they weren't working.

Chase was sitting sprawled out on the couch with his feet on the glass table and Cameron was laying down with her body taking up the rest of the couch, with her head in his lap as they talked. "Labs and hearing test came back normal…" Chase continued, absently he rubbed her back.

"Of course it would, you said she told you that she only 'goes deaf' occasionally?" Cameron asked using the patient's words. Chase shrugged then nodded after thinking about it for a moment. "She has little 'spurts' of vision…. No tumors, no calcium build-up?"

"No signs of any abnormalities, besides her blindness…" Chase added as he glanced at the whiteboard.

"Blindness is not necessarily abnormal. She's been blind from birth..." Cameron grinned for a moment, just thinking. "Blindness, but the vision coming and going…. That's worrisome."

"Something hereditary?" Chase suggested, Cameron shook her head. Parents weren't blind and their vision was close to twenty/twenty. They never described sharing any of Melody's symptoms.

"Mutation is more likely, but that's rare. She was probably just born blind with no underlying reason…" Cameron sighed as she spoke, knowing there was more to it than that. There was always more to their cases. It wouldn't have gotten to them if it was an easy fix.

"House doesn't like 'no underlying reasons'" Chase reminded her as he kissed her forehead "She's never had her genes tested…." Chase added that to the list of tests to do. "Maybe we can order that one to be done?…" They had a running list of all the diagnostic tests they still needed to do. Some were simple and others were complex, but all could be beneficial even if the results were negative. Chase knew a negative result is still a result that could help lead the team to the correct diagnosis. They'd already given her some medicine to help with some of her symptoms, but they were careful to give her nothing too out of the ordinary because masking symptoms might lead to a misdiagnosis. She was stable and not in pain, but she was challenge due to all the pieces not fitting together.

"Hi Mommy." House smirked as he walked in the room. Cameron rolled her eyes and slowly sat up to where she was just leaning on Chase's shoulder. "Oh don't mind me, I'm just here to chaperone."

"Talking about the case…." Both protested and House rolled his eyes.

The eldest doctor scowled at them. "That's no fun. What about the baby?" Chase sighed and Cameron groaned. "What?" House asked, "Oh relax…. Nobody knows… except Cuddy and me…" He grinned, "Though it might not be so hard to figure out…." He chuckled "I mean Cameron getting sick _in the patient's room_ and taking multiple days off…. That _never_ happens." House grinned as he eyed her curiously. "You do have that amazing pregnancy glow people rave about…. Or maybe that's because I walked in and caught you two…what's the word you loyalists use?…snogging?" he glanced at Chase with a grin that showed her was clearly amused by their embarrassment at being 'caught' by House.

"We were talking about the case." Chase repeats firmly, ignoring the jab about being British. House frowned, normally that got a reaction from him.

"If that's what you want to call it…." House winked "I won't tell the janitor he's not the only one using the maintenance closet, deal?" They both rolled their eyes.

"If anyone is… it's not us anymore…Talk to Foreman about that." Chase retorts and House opens his mouth to argue.

"Enough!" Cameron groaned. Both men look at her and got quiet. "How did you even know about the baby?" Cameron watched him critically. House shrugged, she sighed. Honestly it really didn't matter as long as he didn't spend the next nearly nine months being a know-it-all. "Don't tell anyone…" She looked at him sincerely.

"Secrets, huh? Must be important." House sniped. His eyes got wide in mock-realization. "What… are you… pregnant?" The other two rolled their eyes. "Since you got knocked up…I need to hire your replacement…." He complained as he realized "Ugh, now I'm going to lose my lobby art….you're gonna get fat..." House whined.

"I'm only going to be gone for a few months for maternity leave…" Cameron added, ignoring the rest of what he said. Someone had to keep the team from killing each other and Chase had told her when she was gone things seemed to fall apart.

"But I'll need to be sure the replacement is up to par with the delinquent and the Aussie…" House continued as though she never said anything. She thought it was interesting he didn't include Thirteen as part of the team just yet.

"Right here. I am in the room." Chase said, half amused and half annoyed. House rolled his eyes.

"Oh so now you're insecure?" House teased and sat across from the couple. "Besides, Thirteen is new… Though I guess this might be the best time because the two newbies can get trained together… so they understand that I'm not warm and fuzzy like their last Head Doctor." He shrugged and saw both of them staring at him. "What? Thirteen was hired so there would be four of you. More ideas to bounce around, more help, more chances to annoy me..."

"What about that saying….'too many cooks in the kitchen?'" Chase asked.

"We're doctors, not chefs…. But I guess the point still stands… your replacement will be temporary, so I guess the three can still work… yeah no replacement less paperwork, that way… just Thirteen, Foreman, and Daddy… it'll go back to four once you're back. Five of you idiots is way too many." House said looking at Cameron. She didn't like the look he was giving her so she wanted to put an end to that right now.

"I will continue to do my job…." She tried to defend herself but House interrupted her.

"Without puking your guts out all the time?" House smirked and she made a face. "Oh… do you feel nauseous?….Someone was cooking something spicy in the kitchen….what was it chili? Looked gross… super chunky and…smelled even worse….nasty smelling and thick and…"

"Knock it off…" Chase muttered with a glare as she paled. House glanced at the table where she had some half-eaten crackers, at least she was trying to eat. House shrugged. She frowned at her boss "Why were you so insistent about her pregnancy anyway? Like with Cuddy? You didn't tell anyone did you?" Chase asked again.

"You just told me Baby Wombat was a secret." House whined like he was a spoiled toddler who was just told he wouldn't be getting any presents for his birthday due to misbehavior. "Whoever knows are people you've told… and Cuddy because she's nosy with the paperwork…"

"Sure, Cuddy's the one who's nosy. Why were you so obnoxious about it the other day?" Chase repeated.

"Because he likes to be a jerk." Cameron added and Chase just laughed and kissed her forehead. That was definitely true: House loved being a jerk to everyone. It really didn't matter who they were.

"I like to be _right_. There's a difference." House corrected.

"Not for you…" Chase muttered and House glowered at him.

"The being a jerk part is just a fun bonus." House grinned. "I was right about this…. And I knew before either of you did, so you two must be horrible doctors. By the way…. Miss Mommy, you're being summoned. Patient's mom wanted to talk to the lady doctor and I can't very well tell her that pretty little Thirteen is learning how to break into people's houses…." Chase and Cameron rolled their eyes. She slowly stood up to go talk to Melody and her parents. Mrs. Chung just had some questions for Cameron about her daughter's condition and prognosis.

* * *

"Feeling better?" Thirteen looked at Cameron as the two woman walked to the cafeteria for lunch.

"Yeah. Thank you." She smiled. "Being sick is the worst." It wasn't a compete lie. The other woman nodded sympathetically. "Find anything in the home?"

"Nothing to be concerned with. No chemicals stronger than cleaning chemicals and nothing poisonous. Does he always get like that when it comes to illegal stuff?"

"House?" Cameron asked "or Foreman?" She hadn't heard the discussion earlier, but apparently Thirteen called House out on breaking and entering. She knew how Foreman hated being hired 'for his delinquency'.

"He was adamant that the girl's parents are hiding something…" Thirteen explained. House.

"Everyone lies." Cameron laughed as she grabbed an apple. Seeing the expression on Thirteen's face she added. "If you manage to stick around long enough, you'll hear House say that nearly every day. He just wants to solve the mystery…."

"But we could lose our licenses!" As much as she knew she shouldn't laugh because Thirteen's words were true, Cameron had to. House was not afraid of getting in trouble and he acted a lot tougher than he truly was. She knew this only from years of experience of working for the diagnostician.

"Never stopped him before. Despite whatever he may have told you, most of the time we do ask patients for a key so we don't do it without their permission… they know we've been there for the most part… or we're just careful not to make our presence known." Cameron explained as she eyed the sandwiches, trying to decide which would be least likely to set off her nausea. She settled for just a grilled cheese.

"He's… interesting. That's for sure." Thirteen said carefully, after a few moments of thinking silently about their boss as she grabbed a turkey sandwich.

Cameron laughed. "That's one way to put it." She smiled remembering one of the cases that caused House to hire Foreman. The patient had been a smart-mouthed adolescent who had 'delusions' that turned out to be things he could see that nobody else could. The cause had been protein buildup behind his corneas that weren't found on any test until the kid was almost blind. It had only been the three of them then: House, Chase and herself, but due to House's distrust of nearly everyone it lead to them being basically run ragged. So House decided he needed a third fellow to handle the caseloads. A similar logic led to Thirteen's employment a few weeks prior.

"What?" The newer woman asked as she saw Cameron laugh. She smiled.

"House treated us terribly. Chase was so mad…." She shook her head and grinned. "House had told Chase to do everything and he wouldn't allow him to rest…One night we fell asleep in the Diagnostics Room due to staying late with almost no sleep for a few days on end and he gave us so much flack for that." When you work for someone like House, you make friends with the other fellows quickly… or in her and Foreman's case after a near death experience. She shrugged and continued "Chase said it's because House thinks we all work better if we've got competition. Chase has been working for House longer than I have…. So he probably knows him best…."

"How long have you guys been dating? Most of the time, you call him by his last name…" Thirteen noted, amused. That caused the other woman to blush.

"Force of habit, I guess. Out of work, I call him Robert and he calls me Alli, but he's Chase and I'm Cameron." She was quiet for a moment then sighed. "When House first found out that we were dating… he pulled us aside and told us to stop."

"Really?!" Thirteen's eyes widened in shock.

"House has never been one for subtleties." Cameron shrugged. "He said either we break up mutually, on his orders, before things get bad…. Or we'd either break up being miserable and hostile to each other at work… or we'd stay together and eventually get married… and have two Doctor Chases and cause problems for the hospital that way." And give House a headache. She remembered the reason he'd given them, a few years ago.

"Why would that be a problem?" Thirteen didn't understand how a marriage would causes issues, but she knew there was a lot she didn't understand when it came to her boss and the other three.

"Conflict of interest, I'm sure. Or House was just being a jerk." She shrugged. "He was right about it in the beginning, about us breaking up….Because we did." Cameron added as she paid for her food. "Although at first it wasn't even dating…. Just a casual… thing." She seemed almost embarrassed about it, Thirteen realized. Cameron thought back to when she'd broken it off and how hard Chase had tried to get her to realize she loved him, too. It just took her longer to realize it than it took him.

"But?" Thirteen grinned, eager to hear more about her coworkers because they all seemed so close with each other and she hoped someday she'd feel included. Cameron glanced at the other woman.

"But you know what they say about no strings attached…. Someone gets hurt because they develop feelings…" Cameron blushed. "We both kinda did and decided to date…. For real…And here we are…having…uhh… dating and happy" she almost admitted to be pregnant but caught herself at the last second. "We've talked about getting married, though House can just deal with that." Both women laughed. "Why, thinking about dating one of the cute nurses?"

Thirteen blushed. "Just something… Foreman… Eric said…" Cameron raised an eyebrow as she bit into her sandwich. Thirteen shook her head but whispered. "He said you and House… dated?"

"Why?" Cameron groaned and buried her face in her hands. She sighed and added "House took me out to dinner… once." Cameron said as she tried to explain. "It wasn't really a date…. He just wanted me to come back to PPTH."

"You left?" Thirteen was shocked, Cameron seemed like the least likely to leave the team. Cameron nodded and almost sighed. None of that seemed to matter anymore. She was definitely a permanent fixture as much as Chase and Foreman were.

"Long story. But it was better I quit then having House or Cuddy have to fire someone. But it was just dinner, really really nice dinner. But it was dinner. Not a date." She blushed, thinking back to how foolish and young she'd been back then. "But that doesn't matter. I'm back for now." She promised with a smile.

Thirteen smiled. "Yeah… why is he so against relationships with coworkers?"

"Why? What do you mean? Thinking of someone in particular?" Cameron asked curiously. She didn't know how House would react if everyone on his team were dating… especially with her and Chase having a baby. House would have a coronary if the team dynamics changed too much. He hated change so much.

Thirteen blushed and shook her head. "Not-nothing. Foreman said something about finding out why you're hired… that it's important. Why'd House hire me? Do you know?" There was something else, but she didn't want to admit to anyone what she thought of the other doctor. Cameron sighed. Of course, Foreman would think that. The poor man was obsessed with why their boss hired him.

"You're an enigma." Cameron said, much to the other woman's surprise. "Mysterious and interesting. House likes that, so he chose you. You know how he always wants to know about our personal lives…" Cameron grinned. "That's why House does what he does. To answer the mystery…. Not so much for the patients. But we've all got our own reasons for going into medicine…"Cameron trailed off. She wasn't going to say anything else, because her reasons were important but they were hers and they didn't impact her work.

Thirteen nodded. She definitely had her own secrets from the group, but she figured everyone did.

* * *

"Hey, Melody." Cameron opened the door. "It's Doctor Cameron… I wanted to talk to you for a minute….if that's okay? Or…or are you resting? I can come back if you want…."

The girl blinked and nodded. "I'm awake. You're new?" She didn't recognize her voice.

"Sort of." Cameron smiled. "I've been here a long time… but I was sick the other day… so I didn't get a chance to meet you."

"You're the one….Mom said… Mom said you threw up?" Cameron nodded. "It didn't smell bad… afterwards… normally… puke smells….gross…. but I couldn't smell anything….?"

"Yeah…" Cameron said slowly, this was not the conversation she wanted to be having just after eating lunch. Closing her eyes until the wave of nausea passed was helping, as was taking a breath her nose. "Wait, you said you couldn't smell anything afterwards?" the girl shook her head. So maybe she was losing her senses; she'd lost three out of the five. "Nothing…at all?"

"Nope." Melody looked at her. "You think I'll lose my sense of smell, too?"

"I think you're okay on that front." Cameron said, not wanting to worry her unnecessarily. "Actually…. Chase?" She ducked her head out of the room and called for some back up.

"Problem?" He asked, entering, seeing the look of concern on Cameron's face.

"Testing and I could use some help." Cameron said softly and he nodded. "Melody, can you stand up for me… for just a sec?" The girl leaned on Chase as she got out of bed. "They check her balance as part of her other tests?" Chase shook his head as he led Melody away from the bed. "Okay, well, then we can do some quick tests in here to see something, okay with you, Melody?" she turned towards Melody.

Melody nodded. "No more of that pounding head machine?"

"No. Just in here. No needles or medicine or anything right now. Just us." Chase said, seeing where Cameron was going with this. "Balance tests."

"When you were younger did you ever play sports or anything?" Cameron asked, locking eyes with Chase. Nothing was written on her chart, but childhood activities provided a good insight if one knew how to think outside of the box.

"I'm blind." Melody said like Cameron was stupid.

"Like swimming or gymnastics…." Cameron added, "Stuff you don't need sight to do?" The girl shook her head. She hadn't done any sports or anything besides ceramics. "Okay, good to know. Stand on your left foot for me, for as long as you can…" Melody slowly lifted her right foot and held her arms out for balance. "…three, four, five, six, sev—" She wobbled throughout the whole test, but at six and a half, she stumbled and Chase put his hands out to catch the blind teen before she fell.

"You're okay." He said calmingly. "Seven seconds…." He looked to Cameron who nodded and wrote it down.

"Seven? That's bad?" Melody blinked, not understanding. "Can—can I sit?" Chase differed to Cameron.

She frowned for a moment as she spoke "Just a few more tests. I'm sorry but they'll be quick. Bend over and try to touch your toes…." Melody was really unstable for that test, and she didn't know that Cameron had her hand out, supporting the girl's head and Chase had his hands by her waist in case she fell. "One more test, I promise. Then you can get back into bed." She watched the girl for a moment and she and Chase shared a look. "Hmm, never mind. You can sit for this one, okay?"

"Thanks…. I feel wobbly."

"Do you always feel like that?" Chase asked as he helped her to the bed. Melody shook her head.

"Sometimes…. Wobbly." She repeated. "Feel wobbly." Chase and Cameron looked at each other; no need for the third test. They had their answer from the first two.

"Do you feel wobbly now?" Cameron asked gently. Melody nodded.

"Dizzy. Lots of…dizzy. Can I sit?" she begged, not looking towards the sounds of either doctor. "Please? I wanna sit…"

"You are." Chase said as he tried to comfort the girl. "You're on the bed. Melody, you're sitting down. Do you still feel wobbly?"

"I want my mom." She said quickly. "I want my mom!" She was terrified and everything was dark. Her hearing was waning. They sounded so far away and she felt like she was underwater. Her head felt like it was swimming and she felt like she had been spinning fast in a rolling chair. "I WANT MY MOM!"

"Okay. Okay." Cameron said, leaving to go alert House to their discoveries after she found Mrs. Chung. "I'll get her." Chase tried to comfort the fifteen year old.

"No more tests." Melody begged when she heard multiple people enter at once.

"What's going on? What did you do to her?" Her mother was worried and judgmental towards these doctors that seemed to have no idea how to help her daughter.

"Balance tests…." Chase tried to explain in futility. "We thought—"

"She's never had a problem with balance before. Healthy, completely healthy…" Mrs. Chung said sharply.

"My team did what they thought was right." House said firmly. "Your kid needed help. Balance issues might have shown something…."

"That all those other tests you put her through wouldn't?" Mom cried. House shrugged, a silent 'possibly'. "She's fifteen! She doesn't need to be tortured like this!"

"Can you tell us what you said earlier, Melody?" Chase asked patiently. He glanced at Mrs. Chung with a look that so clearly said 'stay out of it'.

"Only to you. Not her." The girl frowned, knowing the lady who did the tests was in the room. House and Cameron blinked. There hadn't really been any patients who wouldn't talk to Cameron, House, yes but not Cameron. But Melody crossed her arms. "Only to you. I like you best."

"Okay…just give us a second, please?" Chase asked, still trying to think of what to do next because Cameron and House needed to know what she said to him.

"Someone's got a crush…." House sang as Cameron and Chase dragged him into the hallway. "So what's your plan? I know you've got one…"

"I'll talk to her and get her to tell me what we need to know and you two will be silent… she won't know you're in there." Chase admitted.

"Tricking her?" Cameron asked, frowning. That seemed like something House would suggest, not her boyfriend.

He sighed. "What other option do we have? Mom is paranoid and she's scared. Her balance is terrible and she's getting worse…" Chase reminded her and she relented.

"Kid's blind. Not like she'll see us. But she might hear us…" House reminded the two. "We can always tell you what to ask with action and without words…I bet the blind kid is terrible at party games…"

"That's unethical…" Cameron frowned.

"So is half the stuff we've done for House to get a diagnosis…" Chase added. He didn't like it either, but he knew sometimes getting the diagnosis from a patient required some 'questionable tactics'.

Cameron frowned but sighed. "Just stay silent". House glanced at her, but for once kept quiet. He mocked saluted her and she rolled her eyes.

The three returned. "Okay, Melody. Doctor Cameron and Doctor House had to see other patients, but they agreed to let me ask you some questions… if you'd be willing to?" Chase said to the girl. Melody's mom was about to protest when both House and Cameron put their finger to their lips, silently begging her to be quiet.

"…okay." The blind teen nodded. "I can sit?" She was in bed and didn't want to get up.

"Yeah. Do you feel unstable, right now?" She nodded. "Okay, you don't need to move. Stay there." He said and she nodded. "What did it feel like when you were standing during the first test?"

"Like I was going to fall." Melody said. "I didn't like it. I felt bad."

"The whole time?" Chase asked. Melody nodded. "Can you describe what you did during the test…"

"I stood on one leg… until I fell. It was hard."

"How long did you stand on your leg?"

"A long time. A minute? But I think it was longer…."

Chase shook his head and softly told her. "You got to seven seconds…."

"That's not a minute." Melody answered and House stared at the girl.

"Is that when you started to feel unstable?" Chase asked.

"Yeah. The other test made it worse…I wasn't spinning, but it felt like I was. I didn't fall then though. My head felt funny."

"Describe that for me?" Chase asked, glancing at Cameron as she made notes.

"My head felt funny." Melody repeated. "I feel wobbly."

"Right now?" Chase asked and her mother frowned at this absurd back and forth only one doctor was doing. She didn't like how the other two were silent, especially when her daughter didn't want them in the room.

"What?" She blinked and turned her head to the opposite way. Cameron wrote this all down. She looked at Chase and mouthed 'smell, no smell…' She and House were miming different questions to ask her. "What's going on?"

Chase nodded to his girlfriend and blurted out. "Your sense of smell? How is it?"

"Good. I think. I can smell things…." Melody frowned as she tried to remember. "I've always been able to smell things…."

"Anything you can't smell?" Chase asked as Cameron and House continued the strangest game of charades ever played. "Like…things you know you should be able to smell, but you can't?" House did jazz hands as he was trying to get Chase's attention, then he pointed to Cameron and mimed vomiting. The female doctor nearly smacked him but stopped because she realized at the last second that would make a sound and alert the girl that it wasn't just her and her Mom and Chase.

"Why?" her brow furrowed and she looked warily at him "I couldn't smell when the other doctor got sick…I didn't even know she did, but mom told me. My mom told me the doctor got really sick. How do you about know that?"

"Written on your chart." Chase lied easily. "Don't worry, just trying to understand what's wrong. You're doing great with all this." House gave him a look, if he was this good at lying to a patient, he had to have lied to his boss. Chase glanced at House and shook his head. House always had a way of finding out the truth eventually so it was just better to always tell the truth to start with.

"Okay." She said slowly. "You talk funny. Your words sound…different." She blinked in confusion.

House had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. Chase froze and Cameron blinked. "I'm Australian… we talked about that the other day…" she stared at him blankly. "You don't remember?" Chase asked with concern. "Do you remember what we talked about the other day, Melody?" Chase tried to prompt her memory "We talked about ceramics and…"

"My head hurts." The girl whimpered. "I feel dizzy. I don't wanna do it anymore…."

"Okay. Okay, you're doing good. We're done. You did very good, Melody." Chase said, tilting his head towards the door to let the others know that was enough questioning for now. "I'll let you rest, okay?"

"Rest?" She said slowly as though the word was unfamiliar to her.

House saw Thirteen and Foreman walking in the hallway as they left Melody's room so he got their attention to discuss the new developments from Melody's case. "Thirteen, Foreman, circle up. Team Pow-wow." House smirked as the group converged in the Diagnostics Room, around the whiteboard. "We've got interesting things to discuss, like how I'm the Charades Champion of Diagnostics." Cameron and Chase rolled their eyes but they sat down.


	3. Everybody Lies

**AN- I figured it's time for the rest of the team to know about Cameron's pregnancy. I like Foreman and Thirteen, but just not as a couple. I agree with the House Creators that they wouldn't last. Thank you so much for the reviews; they make me smile. You guys are awesome. I don't own anything except for my ideas…**

House added MEMORY LOSS and NO SMELL to the whiteboard as Foreman and Thirteen looked at him. "So what else do we know, pretty boy? Besides the fact that Little Miss Teen has a crush on you and doesn't trust your girlfriend?" House grinned. He seemed amused by everything about this case.

Chase rolled his eyes. "Add balance issues up there, too…. Basically non-existent balance…" Chase took a marker and added it. "Long term memory seems fine… but it's short term that's problematic." He changed that on the board, too.

"No sight, limited hearing and apparently loss of smell occasionally." Cameron added. "Sense of coordination is off… not sure about Melody's sense of taste or touch…"

"She didn't know she was in the bed…" Chase reminded her. "She kept asking to sit when when she already was...And when I asked her to squeeze my fingers, she couldn't… so her sense of touch is also pretty bad… What's left? Taste test? So what do we do now?"

"Solve the case." House said simply. "Before her body shuts down… Chase take her for an MRI. Check for tumors and other fun things." He trusted him over the newest fellow since he'd been there longest. He knew Thirteen had done one but things might have changed since the other day.

"Thirteen already did that…" Foreman defended his coworker. She blushed and smiled.

"Then Thirteen screwed up, didn't she?" House said, looking sharply at her. "But tests aren't going to help if she becomes a vegetable." He pointed out. Cameron and Chase looked at each other. Something was definitely on their boss's mind.

"So you're saying put her into a coma?" Foreman frowned. "Or just wait until she goes into one…."

"You just like to argue with me, don't you?" House smirked. Foreman and House were always arguing and the other man would constantly be challenging House.

"I think we should get a genetic test…." Chase added to break the tension. "Just to rule out any anomalies…"

"Why?" Foreman frowned. "That's not going to help…"

"At least he's trying to come up with a solution. Where were you anyway? Chase and Cameron actually advanced the diagnosis, you were somewhere else…no doubt messing around…" House glanced at Foreman. House went to the board and wrote PREGNANT? "What if she's pregnant? That causes some balance issues, right Cameron?" Her face hardened as she glared at him. "Oh, don't be moody with me…" Luckily Foreman nor Thirteen noticed the comment or her reaction.

"Tox results were negative for progesterone and HCG." Chase pointed out, as he looked at her test results, before House can add another jab about pregnancy. House didn't erase his guess, but did cross off it off from the board.

"Well, that's a shame." House muttered. "No baby. So sad. What else?" He turned to the other doctors.

"Blood tests came back normal, right?" Cameron asked with a frown. If they came back abnormal, that might help… but not if everything seemed normal.

"Maybe she's got some genetic thing…." Thirteen agreed with Chase. "It fits the puzzle…"

"Mutants, while entertaining, typically don't present like she is…" House frowned at her. He was being unnecessarily short with both her and Foreman, Cameron realized…. Did that have something to do with what she and Thirteen talked about at lunch? Were they dating? She shook her head, the other woman would have said something, though Cameron didn't mention that she was pregnant.

"You entertained the idea when Chase suggested it yesterday." Foreman argued. "Thirteen had some good points…"

House narrowed his eyes at the other man. "Stand up for your girlfriend when a patient's life is not at stake, okay?" House snapped and all four froze. Chase and Cameron stared at the other three and Foreman and Thirteen stared at their boss with open-mouth shock. Cameron had her answer, then. Guess they were dating after all.

"What?!" Thirteen blinked. "How- did…?" She didn't understand how he always seemed to know everything about everyone. "You knew?"

House stared at her like the answer was obvious. "I make it a point to know everything about my team…" he glanced at Cameron and Chase and they wouldn't meet his eyes. He turned back to Foreman and Thirteen. "Break up or you're fired."

"WHAT?!" "But that's not fair!" Both yell and are furious with him. "You can't do that!"

"Break up or you're fired." House repeats firmly. "You have until the end of the case to decide. Your choice. I don't care which." He looked between them. "Break up or quit. Coworkers should not date it leads to all kinds of problems. There are rules for a reason."

"I'm gonna go do the MRI now—" Chase said softly as he stood up to leave the room. Cameron stood up silently to follow him to let the other three have privacy. She wouldn't be in the room due to the risks to her unborn baby but there was always work to be done in a hospital so she'd find something to do.

"Sit down." House spoke sharply and both sat down guiltily, looking like children awaiting punishment after being caught red-handed. They felt just like that too. Cameron stared straight ahead and Chase's fingers lightly brushed hers, but he quickly pulled his hand away. Neither would look at the other. They didn't want to give House any reason to be angry with them more than they already had.

"What about Cameron and Chase?" Foreman frowned, eyeing the other couple. "They're dating!"

"They're a lost cause." House said shrugging.

"Lost cause?" Cameron glared at her boss, not liking his evaluation of their relationship.

House looked at her like she was a child, "You two aren't going to break up." Chase couldn't help but smile when House basically gave his support, considering how he gave them so much grief before "That ship has sailed." She crossed her arms but didn't comment. House liked her and Chase better as a couple than single, but not Foreman and Thirteen. That was just asking for trouble. He'd seen how they would refuse to argue against the other's differential even if it was wrong. Cameron and Chase had no problems with that, they could still do their jobs and be a couple. As long as they didn't let their relationship get in the way of treating patients, they can remain a couple.

"So you let them date… but we can't?" Foreman glared at his boss. Thirteen stayed quiet.

"Precisely." House grinned. "They're screwed up enough to need each other and they know how to stay professional…they've got experience with that. You two don't. Cameron and Chase can kept personal lives personal and away from work… for the most part." He winked at Chase and Cameron who both rolled their eyes "Thirteen's still too new… She's shiny and different. Besides, she's too good for you. You don't deserve her…"

"That's my choice." Thirteen snapped annoyed. How dare he tell her who to date? The others told her House was a jerk…. But this was insane. She was a grown woman who could date whomever she wanted. She didn't need permission like she was still a teenager. She knew he was her boss, but still Cameron and Chase were dating so it's not like the rules strictly forbid it. Though, she didn't know what happened with them before and she knew Eric and House did.

"Not when you're under me. I'm your boss. I've got enough headache with these two idiots…" he gestured to Cameron and Chase "I don't need you two making things worse." He glared at Foreman and Thirteen.

"What does that mean?" Foreman glared at him. "You give them special treatment and you always have… since that kindergarten teacher…." He knew they'd been working for him the longest, but still. They broke some of his rules by having a relationship but House just turned a blind eye.

"Enough." House said, tired of this. "Break up or you're fired."

"They've been dating for like a year and a half… after their on and off…thing before… they don't have to break up to keep their jobs…" Foreman glared at the older man. Maybe he sounded whiney, but it wasn't fair.

"They amuse me." House smirked. "They're interesting. Especially with the baby." House froze as he realized what he just said. "Oh." He had truly tried to keep it a secret. He was genuinely apologetic, but he knew he'd made a mistake.

"HOUSE!" Cameron and Chase glared at him.

"What baby?" Thirteen blinked staring at Cameron as she tried to figure it out. Her 'food poisoning' and fainting… it all made sense, if she was pregnant. Foreman watched the expressions change of everyone else in the room. House immediately put his hand to his mouth, knowing he shouldn't have accidentally revealed it because it wasn't his news.

But everything was forgotten when one of the alarms in Melody's room went off. She wasn't breathing. Lung function was dangerously low. If they didn't fix it immediately her heart would stop. "Cameron, get the Crash Cart." House said as he and the other three ran into Melody's room. Mrs. Chung was hysterical and screaming as Foreman pulled her out of the room. He had to physically hold her back as she sobbed about her daughter dying. Thirteen closed the blinds as Chase looked at the monitor and got to work on treating the dying girl.

"Oxygen dropping…" Chase noted as he checked the girl's throat and mouth immediately. "Airways blocked." He was already reaching for a the tools to open her airways.

"Trach tube." House said sharply and the blonde nodded. Chase carefully but expertly opened her windpipe to insert the tube. He was the best on the team at inserting trachs so he was House's first choice. House glanced between Chase and the girl and her monitors as Chase manipulated the tubing.

"In." He confirmed after what seemed like way too long. But House knew it was quickest time, which was why he had Chase do it. Chase closed up the site as best he could.

"Where the hell is Cameron?" House snapped, monitoring the girl's vitals which were slowly improving, but not by much. But as soon as he asked she entered with the Crash Cart and a few nurses.

"Here. Stable?" Cameron whispered as the nurses immediately started helping the doctors.

"Getting there. Intubation was difficult…" Chase responded. "Inflamed trachea…Possible allergic reaction…"

"ICU transport." House ordered to a nurse and they could hear Mrs. Chung screaming to be let back in the room because the doctors were killing her daughter. Foreman entered with the woman after the nurses took Melody away. Thirteen hadn't moved from her spot by the window.

She took a shaky breath and stared at Chase with an expression the blonde doctor couldn't read. "What never seen a trach tube before?" House frowned, she had basically been next to useless; at least Foreman had kept Mom restrained and out of the room. Thirteen just stood there frozen and silent. That was a trait he couldn't allow any of his doctors to have in this job.

"Never seen a tracheostomy performed in person…." The pretty doctor whispered. House rolled his eyes but didn't comment. "I didn't know what to do…" But she just didn't want to be in the way.

"What'd you do to her?" the mother hissed, she'd seen the thing in her daughter's throat despite Foreman trying to keep her from seeing. She didn't understand what they did that or why they wouldn't let her stay in the room.

"Tried to help her breathe." Chase said, looking hard at her. "She was stable twenty minutes ago…" he hadn't meant to sound so accusatory.

"I just… I didn't know. She was dizzy and I tried to move one of the monitors to make her comfortable enough so she could sleep... I didn't take it out, just tried to move it a little bit…." She looked so close to tears.

"What the HELL were you thinking?!" House snapped. "I don't tell you how to parent your kid… so why the hell were you trying to do a doctor's job?!" She gasped and looked at him, terrified. But the next thing he said wasn't yelling, which might have made it worse. "You nearly killed your daughter." She tried to blink back tears but started sobbing at his harsh words.

"House." Cameron spoke sharply. "Can't you see she feels bad enough without you being cruel?" The man glanced at her but started to limp out of the room, his cane thudding loudly.

"That's why I don't deal with patients." He snapped, leaving the other four in with the crying Mrs. Chung.

The doctors all looked at one another, trying to calm her down. "She was getting more stable… They just moved her to a place she'll get better care…" Cameron said softly. "She should be getting better in a few days' time…"

"Then why can't you find out what's wrong?" She looked so heartbroken.

"We're doing our best…." Foreman said quietly.

"My husband had to go to work… I told him he should stay… I told him… if she gets worse….She's my baby… I can't lose her… not… not again…" There were no words to comfort her. All she wanted was for her daughter to get better. They didn't know how to treat her.

Foreman, Chase and Cameron shared a look. "She's in the Intensive Care Unit now… once she's stable, the nurses will allow you to visit her… just be warned she won't be able to talk if she's awake, but more likely than not, she won't be awake."

Mrs. Chung nodded. "I never meant to hurt her…."

"We know." Chase said. "Go to the cafeteria. Talk a walk outside. Just talk a minute..." He suggested. "She's in good hands…." She nodded and looked at him terrified.

"If anything changes…." Her dark eyes searched his blue ones.

"We'll let you know." He promised and she nodded, leaving the four doctors alone. They glanced at one another silently. Nobody dared to speak for a few moments. Cameron sighed and Chase took a deep breath as he put his hands to his face to calm down. Foreman closed his eyes for a moment to relax. Thirteen bit her lip and stared at the others.

"So…a baby, huh?" Foreman asked, breaking the silence that hung in the air, glancing at Chase and Cameron.

"Not talking about it." Cameron said, smiling brightly. Chase nodded, they hadn't really been able to talk about it themselves. "Unless you want to talk about your relationship?" Foreman's face darkened but he said nothing. Thirteen's face reddened from shame and embarrassment.

Silently the four walked back to House's Office where they knew he was hiding. House looked up when he heard his ducklings enter. He opened his pill bottle and took one before speaking. "That girl's lucky. She should be dead." Chase nodded dully, but Foreman frowned.

"Why? You just told her Mom that we saved her life…"

House rolled his eyes. "Got the results from one of her screenings…. Chase was right. Kid's got some genetic problems and with some of the medicine we gave her… she should be dead…"

"So it's our fault? But you just…." Thirteen asked.

"We screwed up." House repeated, glaring at Thirteen. The others knew not to argue with him when he was in one of his moods. "But with her genetics…."

Cameron frowned "But her parents…."

"Probably aren't her parents. Everybody lies." House shrugged. "We'll need to do a DNA test to confirm, but these results were pretty conclusive. She inherited something bad from someone that was worsened with some medicine given to her by someone in the hospital. I'm sure the problem began when she took some pills at home…" he shrugged, handing the results to Chase. Cameron looked over his shoulder to see.

"We didn't find anything during the home search…. And the Tox Results were negative for drugs…."

"What about something naturally occurring in the body?" Chase shrugged. "Stuff that wouldn't show up… but could cause some issues…." He reached for the results from House and looked over it. "Like hormones or epinephrine or I don't know… insulin… or something?"

House nodded but looked at him. "And how could we test for that if it doesn't show up?" Chase's face reddened but House continued. "But good thought process… We have to confirm that her parents aren't her parents… or at least one of them isn't… or that they do have the genetics their daughter shares….and they kept their symptoms from us."

"How are we going to get Mom and Dad to agree?" Cameron asked "They're not going to want to do a DNA test… After what we did today, they'd never consent…"

"Foreman, when you went in this morning did you find anything…. dangerous? Like leaky gas or any chemicals out?" House asked as he ignored Cameron.

"Like I told you before. No." The man crossed his arms and frowned, not sure where House was going with this. He was still not happy about the man forcing him to break up with Thirteen.

"Good, then the risks should be minimal."

"Risks to what?" Cameron asked but she was again ignored as House kept talking to himself.

"Odds are the risks are even worse in the hospital anyway." House grinned as he glanced at Cameron but didn't elaborate, even when she raised an eyebrow.

"Risks to who? Melody? Her parents?" Chase asked repeating Cameron's question. "But we'd still need to take a DNA test…"

House nodded, completely ignoring the first question again. "Exactly, Foreman will go and get some DNA from Mom and Dad for an initial test…then once we confirm or deny…. they'll probably consent if we determine she's not their kid, people are funny about that…Cameron'll go with him… because Foremen and Thirteen are not allowed to be together alone, and I can't afford three of you going. Don't worry… like we just discussed the risks to the fetus should be minimal…"

All four blinked and stared at him. "Go! Cameron and Foreman will go track down DNA whether it's toothbrushes or hair from a brush…. Chase and Thirteen will run some DNA tests on Melody."

"Melody's in the ICU…" Chase reminded House. He rolled his eyes and made a dismissive motion with his hands.

"You're smart and pretty, wombat. You'll figure it out." House grinned as Chase rolled his eyes. Cameron and Foreman left to grab some sterile bags to collect the DNA evidence from the house.

* * *

"How long have you been dating?" Cameron asked quietly as Foreman grabbed the spare key from under the mat. This was how he and Thirteen got in earlier. He was surprised by her question. He'd asked Thirteen out a few nights ago, on the night Cameron that fainted.

He studied her for a moment before realizing she was not going to stop interrogating him until she got her answer. "We went out to dinner the night before last." At least her questions were better than House's.

"Dinner dinner or dinner and sex?" Or not. He frowned as she looked at him curiously. "Hey, consider it payback from when you asked me…"

"You're no better than House." He complained teasing her, sine he'd asked a similar thing years before about her 'date' with House.

She made a face at that as she scowled. "That hurts…" He rolled his eyes but smiled. They were just teasing.

"If you must know…. dinner dinner, though we did make out a bit in the car. My turn for twenty questions. How long have you been pregnant?"

She groaned at that, even though she knew it was coming. "A few weeks…I guess? But we've only known for a few days. Found out the other day…when I fainted… the results for my blood test indicated I'm pregnant. The fainting was from my blood vessels adapting…." She didn't bother to explain the rest, knowing he knew enough from med school to figure it out.

He blinked "Chase said that your fainting was from hypoglycemia…"

"That too." Cameron nodded. "Morning sickness is awful." He smiled sympathetically and Cameron looked around the room as though they hadn't just broken in. "I'm sure Mrs. Chung has a hairbrush…." Cameron said looking around as they walked towards the master bathroom. "Aha!" She slipped on some gloves and carefully pulled long black strands from the brush and put them in the bag Foreman held open. "Now we just need to find something with Mr. Chung's DNA…"

Foreman continued searching the bathroom as he asked. "What are you going to do?... With Chase, I mean… and the baby?"

She sighed. "I don't know. We talked about getting married for months but we agreed to wait…. But there's no reason we _have_ to get married just because we're having a baby…." Foreman looked at her but kept quiet, letting her talk. "I love him…." The man snorted. Even a blind man could see how much these two loved each other.

"That's obvious… just the way you two look at each other…" Foreman smiled. "But why not? I mean if marriage was already in the cards for you two… this might be a good reason to do it."

Cameron laughed. "Maybe I'm vain, but I don't really see myself walking down the aisle pregnant…" Foreman chuckled and shook his head as she grinned. "But it's more than that. We've talked about marriage…but with everything else going on… we'll have lots of paperwork with immigration and his visas and stuff…I guess we should deal with the baby before adding marriage to the mix." She shrugged. "Are you mad?" She asked softly, looking at him.

"About you and Chase becoming parents?" He stared at her confused. "I'm happy for you two…"

She smiled but shook her head. "I mean about House and you…and Thirteen…" She clarified, watching him. She was interested in their relationship, especially after her and Thirteen's talk during lunch.

It was his turn for a sigh. "I'm not pleased. I mean we're adults…. But I get it. She's new. I've been here a lot longer than she has….I just thought we'd be able to… I don't know…" But then again Chase had been working for House almost a year and a half before Cameron was added. The Aussie had worked for House two years before Foreman joined the team.

"Keeping it a secret doesn't work." She answered quickly and he glanced at her again. She grinned and he laughed. She and Chase had tried to hide their 'first relationship' and that didn't go well.

"Speaking from personal experience, huh?" Foreman laughed. "I know when you guys were just friends-with-benefits… House was less than amused…. Didn't you guys use the sleep lab?...Never mind, I don't want to know…" he glanced at her before adding "I remember House saying something about you both losing your lab privileges for a bit…" The woman blushed but didn't answer. "That blush is enough confirmation." He teased. "But I don't know. I like her…. But maybe he's right…. dating could impact our work…." He frowned. House was convinced they wouldn't be able to do their jobs if they were dating.

"Friendly advice: don't ever let House hear you say you think he's right." Cameron laughed as she opened up the medicine cabinet and looked around. "He's got a big enough head as it is." Foreman laughed at the truth in her words. "But, he does have a point… office romances are a bad idea..."

He stared at her. "Oh, like you're one to talk." Foreman scoffed and Cameron rolled her eyes.

"We beat some very long odds." She shrugged but grinned, obviously happy that they did. She continued riffling through the cabinet. What she was looking for… he had no idea.

"We already checked the medicines…." He watched her, knowing they'd already done that this morning.

"Yeah, but now we know it's something naturally occurring… like…here." She grabbed a box that was pushed towards the back. She held it out to him and let him read the package.

"Birth control?" Foreman looked at her strangely. "I'd say it's a little bit too late for you…." He teased and she rolled her eyes. As much as he hated hearing it, Foreman was just like House, she thought silently to herself.

"No… look… this is estrogen…. Naturally occurring in the female body, so it wouldn't show up on her tests…Besides, her mom told me that Melody wasn't taking any birth control. She wanted to ask when girls should start taking birth control… when they start having sex…" Foreman raised an eyebrow as Cameron shrugged.

"You think Melody took some of her mother's birth control? Why wouldn't the mom notice?"

"I don't think she did, honestly…." Cameron scanned the box, just checking for the preservatives that might have caused it. "These pills are expired anyway and Mrs. Chung looks past reproductive age… I think Melody tried to take some… but due to her blindness may have taken something else…." She shrugged. "So maybe she took something but didn't know what…." She frowned "But nothing showed up in her Tox screens…." It didn't make sense. The birth control definitely wouldn't show up, but it shouldn't cause the reaction that Melody had been having.

"We were testing for drugs…. but we can't test for something when we don't know what she took…"

"Let's just get the DNA and get out of here…" Cameron said, shrugging. DNA was something they can test for. "For the record…. I think you guys make a good couple." She smirked and he laughed.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I don't think House will care….We can take some of Melody's hair to make it easier on Chase and Thirteen." Cameron nodded and disappeared in the girl's bathroom. "Found his razor… looks like Dad must have cut himself…" Foreman announced as Cameron returned.

"Just grab it. It's not like he'll notice…." Cameron said looking around and she found a package with spares. "I doubt he'll notice if we switch it out…." Carefully she put the razor in a separate DNA bag and removed a new one from the package of razors under the sink. Foreman watched, surprised Cameron of all people would do that. Normally she was the one protesting the use of House's unethical methods. She just wanted to get out of the house, having no idea when Mr. Chung got off work, Cameron really didn't feel like explaining to him why two of his daughter's doctors were standing in their home and stealing hygiene products.

"Damn, girl. Pregnancy makes you devious." Foreman laughed. "Remind me not to get on your bad side…" She just laughed and shook her head.

* * *

"I'm sorry about earlier." Thirteen whispered to Chase as they looked in the microscopes for anything unusual in Melody's blood. They'd provided a blood sample for the lab, but House wanted them to do some preliminary tests themselves. "When you…."

"You okay?" He asked, worried at how she seemed to just freeze up in the patient's room.

"I couldn't handle it…. I…." she sighed. "When my older brother was sixteen he got in a bad car crash…. He had to be hospitalized for months…. By the time I got to the hospital he'd been covered in so many wires and tubes…. I was so scared…. The scariest one was the tube in his throat… they cut a hole in his windpipe….." She almost started shaking, but calmed herself. "When you did it to Melody…. I couldn't look…"

"I'm sorry." Chase said. He didn't know what to say. But he knew there was nothing he could say. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder and she stared at him. "It's scary being young and seeing loved ones in pain." Chase added. "It was probably worse with all the tubing…"

"You would've thought I'd be used to hospitals… with my Mom…" She mumbled. Chase glanced at her, she was the most private person on the team. "She was sick…." Chase nodded, willing to leave it at that. He didn't like talking about his parents either.

"Your brother…he got better, right?" Chase asked softly.

She nodded. "Yeah. He died about a year ago… unrelated to the car accident…." Chase nodded sympathetically. She sighed "Eric said that House would be mad…. But I didn't think he'd take it that badly." Thirteen sighed.

Chase smiled. "Can't ever predict what House will do." He said before looking back in the microscope. "They should be back soon…" And as if on cue, Cameron stuck her head in the room to tell them about their progress.

"'Borrowed' the father's bloody razor and took hair from both Melody's brush and her mom's…." She said. "Foreman dropped them off in the lab. Awaiting results?"

"More like hiding from House." Thirteen confirmed. Cameron and Chase laughed.

* * *

"Dr. Chase? Here's the results from that girl's DNA test…" Jenna, a tech, told him as he handed the results to the blonde doctor, two days after the rush order was put in. Many of the other hospital workers refused to work with House but Chase and Foreman managed to convince them to rush this girl's results. Chase nodded to her absentmindedly as he read through the DNA results. Jenna glanced between him and Cameron for a moment and frowned, before leaving. Cameron studied his face as he read through the results with a frown. She stepped closer to him and almost put a hand on his shoulder. Chase shook his head at the words on the page as he reread the results before sharing the information.

"Melody is not the biological daughter of either Michael or Sarah Chung." He read aloud to Cameron, Foreman and Thirteen as they waited for House to come into work for the day.


	4. House is just being House

**AN- All characters are not mine. I like to think that Cameron has a good family relationship because all the other characters do not and I hope she's close with her parents and her brother because I just want her to be happy.  
**

The four doctors stood around House's desk as they waited for him to enter his office. Chase was holding the DNA results and he had been since Jenna handed them to him twenty minutes before. All of them turned when they heard the door open and House's cane thudding as Wilson followed. "…About this patient?" Wilson continued their conversation from the hall. "You wanted to talk to me because of tumors?"

"Not necessarily a tumor…. Yet… but she is confirmed to have a parasite…" House grinned. Cameron and Chase shared a look, did House add another patient in addition to Melody?

"And this is a patient of yours?" Wilson blinked, raising an eyebrow.

"She's not one of mine…. But she was a patient…here..." House smirked, mysteriously.

"Who is she?" Wilson asked, not understanding. He had better things to do then entertain House's crazy theories about clinic patients.

"Nope. Can't say that." House responded amused. "Patient confidentiality is annoying, isn't it?…."

"You've never cared about that before" Wilson added, looking lost. "So some woman gets a parasite… but you can't tell me who this patient is because…?" he stared at his best friend.

"You know her." House grinned and Wilson groaned.

"Yeah, sure. Fine. Don't tell me…." He shook his head. House reacted all the time with lies, so why would this be any different?

"You know her." House repeated much to Wilson's annoyance. "Young woman….early thirties…with a parasite…" he glanced at Cameron who glared as she realized what he was saying. "Wait, how old are you?" as though he didn't have her age memorized. This man knew everything about his team.

"What?" Wilson stared at her. "You…. have a parasite?"

"No!" she said quickly.

"No." Chase repeated.

"Yes." House deadpanned. Foreman and Thirteen kept quiet.

"It's not a parasite." Cameron snapped as she glared at her boss. "You know that… stop being a jerk"

He shrugged "meets all the qualifications of a parasite…" Wilson stared at House and Cameron, trying to figure out what was going on. He glanced at Chase and wondered what this was.

"It does not." Cameron glared at him, again. She looked mad enough to slap him.

"Oh, I forgot pregnant women don't consider their fetuses to be parasitic… but anyone else with a nutrient sucking organism…. That's a parasite." House snapped.

Wilson blinked. "You're pregnant?" Last he'd heard was a doctor had collapsed during her shift and was being treated in Emergency, but he hadn't realized that patient was Cameron. "That's why you fainted?"

"Yes!" House said quickly, answering for her. Both Chase and Cameron glared at their boss.

"Yes." Chase said, nodding.

"No." Cameron said. Foreman and Thirteen still kept quiet. Chase caught his girlfriend's eye and she sighed. "…Yes, that's why I collapsed" she muttered. "But yes…. Whatever he may have said…. I am pregnant." She smiled for a moment. It was really the first time she'd said it out loud since she'd found out.

"Well… congrats" Wilson said to Chase and Cameron as they both smiled. "Was that what you wanted to tell me, House?" Wilson asked. "I actually have a schedule to keep….. and unlike you…. I'm not willing to break it…"

"That… and I wanted your advice… on Foreteen."

"Foreteen?" Wilson blinked confused, glancing at Foreman.

"Foreman plus Thirteen equals Foreteen. It's not that complicated, Wilson, God. Keep up, will ya?" House said as he gestured to each of them with a smirk. Wilson blinked. "They're dating… or they were…. Did you two decide yet?" He turned to the woman.

"Case isn't over yet…." Thirteen said quickly. House rolled his eyes. "We've still got time…." She hoped they might be able to convince House to allow them to date as long as it didn't impact their work.

"So Melody's results came in…." Cameron started to say.

"That doesn't interest me." House announced. Wilson shook his head and left to head to his own office. He wondered why he put up with House and his shenanigans.

"Yeah, well this might." Chase said and House looked intrigued. "She's not their daughter…" Chase handed House the results from melody's DNA test.

House raised his arms triumphantly. "Success!" He smiled. "Good job, Wombat."

"But that doesn't explain any of her symptoms…." Cameron frowned. "All it proves is the people she thinks are her parents are not…."

"Well, then she's adopted so…." Chase argued.

"Or kidnapped!" House added and they glared at him and continued debating.

"She's adopted, so maybe her bio parents are blind?" Chase continued with what he was going to say.

"What if her blindness isn't the disease but a symptom?" Cameron folded her arms. "Her blindness could be a symptom of…."

"That doesn't make any sense…" Chase shook his head. "She's been blind from birth…."

"But what if she wasn't…. like it was a mistake….and…" Cameron protested. "What if she wasn't blind at birth, but she became blind as an infant due to…"

"And she just happened to become blind during early childhood?" Chase frowned as they argued differentials. House grinned as Foreman and Thirteen watched the couple debating back and forth like it was a tennis match. "So you're saying she got meningitis or something that caused her blindness?"

"It's more likely her birth parents were blind or carriers for some disease… or something rather than it just happen to be a mutation or something…" Cameron said.

"She's got to have some genetic abnormality… unless…" Chase said with a sigh "We've got to prove her biological parents have something she could have inherited—"

"But that's only if she just inherited something. But we won't know what until we can test whoever she inherited her genetics from…. We don't know anything about her biological parents…. All we know is she's adopted…."

"She doesn't even know she's adopted!" Chase said loudly. Cameron frowned and looked at him. They continued discussing/debating the case and House tuned them out.

House smirked. "This is exactly why they can remain a couple. They're not afraid to argue with each other trying to prove their points…If you can explain your points against someone who thinks you're wrong you might see the truth…Unlike you two, you just agree with each other because it's your girlfriend or boyfriend who said it…. Because they know their relationship can outlast a silly feud…. They're not at risk for breaking up due to hurt feelings… like you two are" House said looking at Thirteen and Foreman. Both glared at him.

"Shut up, House…" Foreman frowned and he rolled his eyes until he heard the 'lover's spat' winding down.

"Actually… that could very well be…it…" Chase nodded and Cameron smiled.

"You think so?" Cameron asked and he nodded. "We'll be back" they both said as they quickly left the room, both with some idea of what's wrong. But they didn't share it with the other three.

"Wait, what?!" House asked, eyeing Thirteen. "What did they figure out?"

"I was too busy listening to you explain why my relationship is doomed…" She snapped. "I missed half of what they were arguing about…" House groaned.

"Well, I hope they're onto something because we just lost them and their thought process until they return." House said reaching for his ball and throwing it in the air.

"What about the girl? We still need to treat her…." Thirteen frowned and House just shrugged. He really didn't care one way or another.

* * *

"So you think they're going to break up?" Chase asked, gauging her reaction as they walked down the stairs.

Cameron shrugged. "Foreman hates House…." She reminded her boyfriend as she laughed. He nodded and took her hand. "After today…. I might hate House, too" she added and he just laughed.

"I don't think they're too pleased that we left…" Chase pointed out with a smile.

"Hey, House wanted a diagnosis and we may have found one…." She joked. He kissed her cheek. She sighed, wishing things weren't so complicated. "I'm sure everyone in the hospital knows about the baby by now…."

"Why does it matter? They're all gossips anyway…" Chase shrugged, but he sighed. House should have kept it quiet, but he didn't. "Can't change what they know…" He pulled her close for just a moment. When they were 'on the clock' they had to separate their personal lives from work, but House was making that difficult now. She leaned into his touch and sighed.

"Melody's adopted." Cameron said and Chase studied her curiously.

"Yeah?" He kissed her forehead. "But what does that have to do with…"

"Let's talk to them…. When her mother said 'not again…. I can't lose my baby again'…that means something. At least to her." She stepped away from his embrace and Chase blinked. He groaned, not ready to be simply coworkers again. "Hey, at least we don't have to break up…. Foreman and Thirteen do."

"You know as soon as we're done with the parents and we go back into Diagnostics, House'll chew us out for leaving….."

She scowled but didn't say anything. "Come on…" she took his hand, leading him away and they headed to the ICU to talk with Melody's parents.

* * *

"Did you two have a fun outing?" House didn't even look up when he heard the doors open.

"Talked to the parents. Confirmed she's adopted" Chase said. Foreman and Thirteen stared at the other couple. "She's inherited some musculature diseases that could cause her symptoms…" House frowned. The parents didn't think that the fact that the kid was adopted was worth mentioning. That was why he hated patients and their families.

Cameron nodded. "Apparently the birthmother's maternal grandparents were both blind…. She never got anything tested but Melody's biological parents were carriers for quite a bit of autoimmune diseases… that caused her blindness and deafness and her other symptoms." Cameron crossed her arms in front of her chest, silently daring House to find something wrong.

He just nodded. "How'd she take it?" Thirteen asked. She couldn't imagine having your entire world turned upside down at such a fifteen years old. She'd watched her mother die, but she knew her parents were her parents. After all, they're the ones to give her the disease that would one day kill her.

"She was asleep when we went in there… We talked in the hallway…." Cameron admitted.

"Cowards" House grinned. "Couldn't face the truth enough to tell the girl she's been lied to for fifteen years….." House was quiet for a moment before adding "Though I suppose it'll be different if it's your own kid, huh?" Chase and Cameron glared at his insinuation.

"They're her parents" Chase said firmly. "They raised her. Besides, it's not up to us to tell her. All we do is treat her and help her get better."

Hose raised an eyebrow and Cameron continued "They were afraid to have her checked out… all the genetic tests…. They'd lost a few kids to different medical things and they were worried about losing her. That's why Mom was so frantic when we put in the trach tube…"

"So what'd she take?" House asked. "What caused her to come in to PPTH?"

"Apparently, Melody's been having some symptoms of muscle pain and her Dad left some ibuprofen out for her to take when she needed…."

"Idiot." House muttered "That's how teens overdose…." Chase shrugged.

"When we left the ICU nurses were saying she's stable enough to have the trach tube removed and they'll monitor her for a bit, but as long as she remains stable…. She can go home" Cameron said. "But they said that her muscle disease is what is causes her senses to break down. It's her brain; the medicine she took reacted with whatever she inherited. That's why she started having those 'deaf spells'…."

* * *

Cameron unlocked the door to her apartment and Chase followed her inside. He was carrying their bags. She grinned and squeezed his hand before quickly letting go and she put her hand to her mouth for a moment as she sat on the couch. "You okay?" he asked worried.

She didn't move for a moment, internally debating if she would get sick or if the feeling would pass. "Dizzy" She said softly. He stood up and got her a cup of water. She drank it and her nausea slowly went away. "Thanks… feeling better." She smiled and stood up. "Why don't you get started on making dinner? I've got some chicken—"

"Can you eat chicken?" he asked, glancing at her. "I thought you said it was bad…"

"It's fine. I made it last night, just needs to be reheated. It wasn't food poisoning….." She said softly and he nodded. "Chicken's one of the only things I can keep down besides rice or toast…."

"So Bland Diet, then?" He asked, half teasing and half asking for confirmation. She just nodded. He went into her fridge and found the chicken and set it on the counter to thaw. "We finally get a moment to talk without anyone else…."

She grinned. "What do you want to do?" She asked softly and he shrugged. "Don't you dare say it's my choice, Chase…. We both know it's as much your choice as mine. We both were involved so we're both going to continue to be involved…."

"We're still going to be dating, right?" He asked, hopefully. "House basically gave us his permission….."

"Are we engaged?" She asked suddenly and he blinked.

"Is that a proposal?" Chase stared at her.

"Nope." She responded cheerfully and he laughed. "No… I know we're still going to be dating…. But we've talked about getting married. And I guess…. If anytime…. This is the best one for us having a baby. I mean, sure the baby isn't planned….. but that doesn't _really_ mean anything…"

"I mean we are dating…." Chase added with a laugh and she smirked. He laced his fingers in hers. "So that's a no for a proposal, yet…." They both laughed "But I mean we are practically living together anyway…. So with the baby it might be easier if we move in together." He added and she smiled. "It would help with making sure you're both alright as thigs progress…I just don't want you to faint again….."

"I'm eating!" she defended herself "But you're right. I'd feel better if we were living together…." She smiled "Your place or mine?" She was teasing him and he laughed.

"Well, my lease is up in a few months…. And I'm pretty far from the hospital. The commute is _long_." He stressed the last word and she smiled. "In other words, mine's no good…."

"Then I guess we'll have to look for a place. Mine won't work, either. No pets here…." Cameron said.

"Too bad for the cat…" Chase teased and she continued with a smile.

"You're not getting rid of your cat….But it's too small here for a baby anyway….." She sighed and leaned into his arms.

He blinked "Babies are tiny humans. They don't take up much space…." His mind went back to all the babies he'd seen at work.

She looked at him like he was insane. "Babies may not take up much space, but all the stuff babies come with sure do…. Like furniture and toys and clothes and…." She added with a laugh. "In the hospital, the babies are small, but in a house, I'm willing to bet, they need lots of room…"

"So we're looking for a pet-friendly place that has enough space for a baby and is closer to the hospital?" Chase asked, making a list of their requirements. She nodded and he kissed her cheek. "Anything else?" not yet, but they both knew as time went on they'd have more to add.

The phone rang and Cameron jumped up to answer. "My mom" she mouthed to Chase as she picked it up. "Hi Mom… yeah…. No…. I'm fine. I know… I know. I should have called….It hasn't been over a month since we last talked…. Oh….then I'm sorry. Sorry. I meant to call…." She blushed "yeah, well the past two weeks have been crazy…. No, not so much with work…. Just some…ummm…other…. stuff" She laughed. "I know…. I'm sorry." Turning to Chase she said "Check the chicken… no mom, making dinner….." She laughed.

Chase just laughed "I do know how to make chicken, you know…." He teased and kissed her forehead before heading into the kitchen. "Another ten minutes at the most…." She nodded and smiled.

"That's Chase…. Robert, yes….yep, still… Mooom" she complained and her boyfriend laughed wondering what was said "I can't wait for you to meet him….Thanksgiving? Hopefully….Yeah…. no….." she sighed dramatically "that's House. No! Oh, he's an… as-bolute jerk." She changed her wording at the last second. Chase was highly amused, listening to the one-sided conversation. "Yeah… well, with everything…. The craziness…. I actually meant to call you… but it's been an ….experience." Chase snorted and listened. "Actually, yeah….. well….. um… I got some news the other week. Good news, it's good news" Cameron said quickly. She grinned at Chase and he smiled. "It's really good news…..Is Dad there?" she rolled her eyes for a moment. "No… I don't…I don't want to talk to…. Mom!" She sighed and smirked. "My family's insane" she said to Chase loud enough for her Mom to hear.

"So's mine" Chase responded with a smile. "You know mine's worse…." He replied, half joking. She nodded, at least her relationship with her parents didn't end in harsh words without being on speaking terms. She squeezed his hand, comfortingly and he kissed the top of her hair.

Cameron laughed at him then went back to her conversation on the phone. "Okay, yes. Good news….. Actually…Mom…. Next time you see him… can you tell Danny he's going to be an uncle?" She held the phone away from her ear and Chase could hear the excitement through it. "yes…" she giggled into the line before she had to hold it away from her ear again and she glanced at Chase, grinning like a fool. "Yes" she was laughing and happy.

He laughed. "So I take it that it went well?" Cameron laughed and nodded. Her smile was infectious. She kissed him and he stroked her fingers.

She heard a voice come on the phone so she held it back up to her ear. "Hi Dad." She nodded a moment. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine" she repeated with a smile.

"Besides the fainting and the morning sickness?" Chase teased and she rolled her eyes and put her finger to her lips.

"You, shush! I don't want to worry them…." She answered him with a mock glare as she held the phone away from her ear before adding into the receiver "I'm fine…."

"Once more and they'll believe you" Chase teased as he kissed her. She shook her head.

"Shut up… not you, dad. Sorry, Chase is being…" she reddened and he laughed. "Just had to miss a few days of work….It's still early…. Yeah…. I don't know….about eight, maybe…. Not for this… diagnostics not obste—" She grinned "I will… yeah, I'll keep that in mind, Dad" She laughed and mouthed 'advice' Chase grinned. "Love you, too. I gotta go. I'll talk to you guys later? No, I won't wait a month this time…." She laughed guiltily "Love you, Dad, bye". With a click she hung up the phone as she sighed.

"Well that was mean" Chase teased. "You tell them you're pregnant then hang up…."

"Well the chicken should be ready soon…. And I'm hungry." She retorted but smiled. "It's just they started asking all kinds of questions….." Questions they hadn't really talked about just yet and she really didn't know how to answer.

"They think I'm House?" Chase looked at her trying to figure that out. She shook her head and grinned.

"I told them that I've been dating a coworker for over a year…that was the last time we talked…I talk about you a lot, because I love you and I'm so excited for them to meet you…. And Mom asked if that coworker was the cynic I work for…."

Chase laughed. "Good description of House…." She snuggled into him as she smiled. The timer beeped in the kitchen. "Chicken's ready" Chase said as he helped her to her feet.

"We should probably start looking for a place….." Cameron said, continuing their conversation from earlier as she grabbed the silverware.

Chase grinned. "Just rice, then, for you?" he asked and she nodded. She wanted to eat what she could and not be up sick during the night.

"You can make whatever you want…." She smiled. He nodded and grabbed the mashed potatoes she'd made the other night.

"So we can look for places that are close to the hospital….. when's your next day off?" Chase asked.

Cameron sighed "I'll work it out with Cuddy…. I should probably work out the maternity leave situation, soon….."

"We've got about seven months left…." Chase reminded her, squeezing her hand.

"Better to give House lots of time to adjust…. And find a new fellow if he needs….House'll throw a fit….." Cameron said with a smile. "You know how we practically had to beg for him to allow Foreman….."

"House'll just have to get over it. Our baby's not going away…." Chase shrugged.

Her eyes flashed with annoyance "He's our boss…." She said curtly as she stroked her stomach.

Chase just blinked. "…Ye—yeah, but…..it's not like he can tell us to…."

"He told us to break up before!" She snapped and Chase blinked. "And 'Foreteen' too, today… what if later on in my pregnancy he says we can't….."

"He won't." Chase promised. "You're just being worried for no-"

"Don't" She said quickly and he blinked, not sure what to say. "It's not no reason…. He's done stuff like that before so…" She said, looking at him. "He made us break up…. And….what if…."

"Hey, it'll be okay…." He said softly and she just looked at him. "It's okay. Why don't we just eat?" He suggested lightly. She nodded, silently. He hadn't thought her hormones would start this soon.

"I'm sorry." She whispered after a few moments of silence.

"No harm done." Chase promised with an easy-going smile "I'm used to it with dealing with House….." She playfully slapped his arm but laughed. He kissed her.


	5. Tests and Trials

**AN- I don't own House or any of the characters. Sorry for the delay in updating. This chapter concludes the Melody arc and Foreman and Thirteen make a decision regarding their relationship.**

Chase woke up just before the alarm went off. He groaned softly and pulled the covers over his head until he realized Cameron wasn't asleep next to him. "Cameron?" He asked and lazily he stood up. He found her curled up on the tile floor of the bathroom. Her head was against the cool ceramic and he was worried "Are you-?" he knelt down to put a hand on her back. "Alli? You okay, babe?" he knew she was still suffering from morning sickness. He looked at her and tried to put a hand on her arm to comfort her.

"Don't touch me" she practically growled and he froze.

He glanced at her and she didn't look like she had gotten sick but he wasn't sure if he should ask. "You okay?" Chase asked softly. He figured it would be better to ask and be snapped at than not know.

She just closed her eyes and she sighed. "I was just getting up but I felt dizzy so I laid down… It wasn't morning sickness" she said softly, feeling guilty for snapping. "Feeling better now. I'm sorry."

He nodded "I'll get you some food and you'll feel better." She nodded slowly and he left her alone to grab food for them. She closed her eyes for a moment as he was in the kitchen. She heard him rummaging around and make coffee. "Babe, what do you think Thirteen and Foreman will do? I mean the case is almost over." He asked bringing her an egg.

"No it's not. We're at a stalemate with Melody…." Cameron said looking at him as she sat up and took the plate from him. "We know she's adopted but that's all…"

"It shouldn't be very long to get a diagnosis. She's been doing better. Now that we know she's got something autoimmune related…" he grinned "That's you, babe, the immunologist." He teased and she shook her head. "We know she took some medication that caused her symptoms…. That's why she came into us. Allergies?" She shrugged and looked at him "So back to Foreteen" Chase smirked at the nickname.

She smiled and slowly sat up. "They're going to break up. I know it." She said confidently.

"Yeah?" He blinked sleepily as the smell of coffee filled her house.

"You don't?" She seemed amused.

"Foreman might quit over it…." Chase said. "He and House don't get along" Camron snorted

"Understatement of the year, babe" she laughed and he smiled. "But he wouldn't quit just for a relationship…. That's only a couple weeks old"

"Is it really that old?" He teased and she rolled her eyes. "But maybe? Thirteen is new. Both are smart. They can work anywhere…."

"So you want to go back to three of us? Or worse…. Just us?" She asked and he blinked. He felt lost and he had no idea what she was talking about.

"Hey I think the two of us are pretty good, babe" He was very confused and trying to understand why the two of them were 'worse'.

She kissed him, "So do I, but with patients?" She grinned. "There's a reason Foreman _and Thirteen_ were hired. If they leave…."

"They won't" He said trying to reassure her.

"You just said—" She laughed "You just said Foreman will quit"

"I didn't say he would, just that he might…." Chase replied "He might quit. They might break up…."

"We might be having a baby" She said amused. "Oh wait, that one's true" They laughed. "Did you feed the cat?" She asked and he grinned.

"Haven't been home since yesterday" he smiled. "But she's fine. That cat eats whenever she wants. I fed her yesterday morning. Besides, she's got an extra bowl filled for days like last night when I won't be there to feed her" Cameron grinned. "So long story short, Debbie's fine. You feeling better?" she nodded and continued with her thought on the other couple.

"They're going to break up. Thirteen was incredibly eager to work under House…. She's not going to throw it away for Foreman. She makes him easier to deal with and they're great together… but if they can't diagnose…" Cameron added. Seeing the look on her boyfriend's face she added "What? We talk… about you guys"

"What do you tell them about me?" He asked softly. She just laughed. "Babe?" she kissed his cheek.

"Come on, we've got to get ready for work…." She took his hand as she stood up and left the bathroom, leaving him standing there looking after her and trying to figure out what Cameron told Thirteen about their relationship.

"Babe?" Chase called after her. Her only answer was to laugh as she got dressed.

* * *

"You're not quitting your job just so we can keep dating….." They heard Foreman's voice as they walked down the hall.

"You've been here longer than I have….." Thirteen said with a shrug. "I can get another job for another hospital or even another department…." She hated how House was taking his anger of their relationship out on Foreman.

"What if we do… 'break up'?" Foreman asked softly, taking her hand…."We wouldn't have to quit…." She smiled, fake breaking up seemed like their best option.

"Won't work" Chase said as he and Cameron came in. Foreman blinked and looked relieved that it was only Chase and Cameron. "House is good at knowing when people are lying…. He notices more than most….." Cameron watched them but kept quiet. Foreman rolled his eyes but looked between them. Something happened between them…

"But maybe House is just upset because he doesn't have someone…. And he wants everyone to be as lonely as he is…." Foreman retorted.

"What about Wilson?" Thirteen asked. "He and Wilson are best friends."

"Wilson hates him….." Cameron said with a smile, but they all knew that wasn't true. "They put up with each other…."

"One of the new nurses is convinced they're dating…" Thirteen said softly and that caused the other three to crack up.

The other three started laughing hysterically. "Well, Wilson's married….. for now" Chase said with a laugh. Thirteen blinked _how did they know so much about Wilson's personal life?_

"For now?" Thirteen stared at them "What House doesn't want Wilson to be married?"

"Sort of. His wife isn't happy with House. She's upset he's spending so much time with House because House doesn't reciprocate and he drags Wilson away for crazy outings with no warning…." Foreman added with a shrug.

"How do you know about that?" Thirteen asked, not understanding.

"House" all three said at once. That man was always quick to point out all the problems in his coworkers' lives.

"So you two should probably figure out what you're going to do…." Chase said "But we haven't solved Melody's case yet…."

"Almost!" House said as he entered the room with some paperwork. "Got some tox screens back…. And she didn't take ibuprofen…."

"We knew that already…. It didn't show up on her initial…" Cameron interrupted him. His eyes narrowed at her tone, but that was a discussion for another time. She seemed irritated more than normal.

"Yeah, but now we know what she took… blood tests are incredible inventions…." House added. He handed her the results and she looked at the files. "Mood swings might make solving the case difficult" She blinked and looked towards the floor.

"She's allergic to one of the antibiotics we gave her…." Cameron said softly. "Th-that's why she had such a bad reaction and needed the trach tube"

House eyed her suspiciously but turned to face Chase. "Figure out what autoimmune diseases she has…."

"We'd need lab results for that…" Cameron said and Chase frowned. "It'd take lots of tests…"

"Why don't you just ask your boyfriend in the lab?" Chase snapped and she glared daggers at him.

"Woah" Foreman said softly, shocked at Chase's tone. He and Thirteen stared at the couple in silence. House frowned at Chameron.

"Are you seriously jealous, right now? I can't believe this!" She was angry he had to bring this up right now. It was true one of the lab techs had a major crush on her and hated Chase even though Cameron had told him whenever she saw him that she was not free for dinner and she was very happy in her relationship. Though if she was being completely honest, she kind of liked when Chase got jealous. It was why when they had been broken up, she'd flirt in front him and why she'd given that kid a peck on the cheek when he'd given her flowers. She loved Chase so much and would never intentionally hurt him.

House sighed and glared at Foreman and Thirteen as though this was somehow their fault. "They're not the couple I wanted to be fighting…"

"What if nobody fights?" Thirteen asked loudly, trying to appease not only her boss but her boyfriend and Chase and Cameron. That silenced them and they both stared at the floor.

"Work it out, you two… just not while you're on the clock" House said. He knew they were just stressed and they were taking it out on each other. Silently they both nodded.

"Sorry" Cameron whispered to House.

"Won't happen again" Chase added looking at House, Foreman, and Thirteen.

"Did you figure out anything about Melody's genetics?" Cameron asked her boyfriend quietly.

"Nothing new" he admitted, feeling guilty for snapping but she gave him a reassuring smile that everything was alright.

Right on time, the phone rang and Chase answered. "Dr. Chase. Okay…yep. Okay. Just drop off the paperwork at the front desk… blood test not needed. Thanks" He put the phone down and looked at House. "That was the adoption caseworker…"

"Oh, too bad, you two are selling your baby?" House said cruelly, looking at him and Cameron. He was trying to make them angry again. She glared at him and so did Chase.

"House!" They turned their anger on him instead and he rolled his eyes.

" _Melody's_ caseworker…" Chase replied before House said something worse. He knew after their morning, Cameron didn't want to deal with any of House's barbs.

"She's fifteen… isn't there… I don't know, like a statute of limitations?" Cameron asked and Chase shrugged. Their silly argument seemed almost forgotten.

"I don't know. Michael and Sarah just wanted to know about any information from the birthparents that could help us figure out why Melody is still having the reactions…" Chase glanced at the whiteboard. "We've got to figure it out…."

"Well, we know she inherited some autoimmune thing… probably multiple…that affect her senses and BALANCE!" Cameron said quickly as she realized what might be wrong and they all looked at her curiously. "She's out of the ICU now, right?" House nodded, wondering what she was thinking of. "We can test her balance…."

"We did that already, remember? It didn't work out so well…" Chase glanced at her. "Three tests that proved she was having issues…"

"No… I mean caloric stimulation… nobody's done that yet… at least there is nothing written in her chart…." Cameron explained and Chase nodded and they both looked to House.

He sighed "Chase you do it. I doubt she'll let anyone else…. She has a crush on you and isn't your girlfriend's biggest fan" He smirked until he realized that might start another argument. "Foreman's got clinic duty or I'd send him…"

"I finished my hours yesterday—" Foreman protested. "I'm done for the week"

"Nope. You're covering for Cameron since she isn't able to" House said "Don't want her to pass out again…" Cameron tried to protest that she was going to do her job but House ignored her. He just wanted to antagonize Foreman. Thirteen glared at House but said nothing. She still had her clinic hours to complete.

"Chase can do them… I'll do the caloric stimulation" Foreman looked at him. His jaw was set. House snorted.

"So you get a girlfriend and think you're a hotshot, huh?" House grinned. "What are you a kid? Having a date…or sex doesn't mean you don't get to do your job. You're a doctor; you do clinic hours. Wombat, go check out Melody. Foreman has clinics. Hopefully this will tell you what's wrong with her." House said. Cameron had already left to go to do her clinic hours, trying to placate them. "Don't trust anything the Mommy and Daddy say. They'll lie to a doctor if they lid to their kid. Parents lied to her about being their kid…"

* * *

"Hey, Melody… how are you feeling?" Chase asked as he looked from the girl to her parents. "It's Doctor Chase… the Australian" the girl smiled as he joked "and I have just one more test. It's simple and you can just remain sitting" He explained and the girl nodded. Her throat was still healing, but the tube was gone.

"I'm adopted" she said, slowly. "Mom and Dad said they think I inherited something from my real parents" She said softly.

"Real parents?" Chase asked, looking at the faces of Mr. and Mrs. Chung. "Your parents raised you…. They love you. They're your real parents" he added softly. Listening to a patient's family drama was common for them so they normally did their best to ignore it. But in this case he figured it was best to speak up.

"Are you adopted?" She asked softly and he blinked. How many times growing up did he wish that he was adopted and Rowan and Caroline weren't his real parents? He shook his head quickly, trying to shake away the memories.

"No" he said quickly. He didn't want to talk to a patient about his childhood. "This test is very simple… it can tell us more about your balance issues, possible nerve damage and possibly give you a diagnosis." He picked up the dropper and put a few drops of water on the paper before putting it in her ear. He lifted the dropper but someone entered the room before he could begin. His back was turned away from the door but he heard someone enter the room. "Leave the room, Foreman, I'm with a patient."

"It's me" Cameron said softly. They had been avoiding each other all morning since they'd 'fought' in the Diagnostics Room.

Chase blinked. "Everything okay?" Chase looked up at her. She nodded and glanced at the girl and her family. Chase waited for her to elaborate but she didn't say anything. "Just about to start. Check her eyes for me?" Cameron nodded and he smiled at that. "Thanks" She smiled back at him and he turned back to Melody. "This might be a little cold, but it shouldn't hurt. You might feel dizzy but you shouldn't get sick and it shouldn't hurt." Chase explained as much to the girl as to her parents. He released the water droplets and she yelped in pain and Cameron watched the girl's eyes silently. "Melody?" Chase asked seeing the look on her face. "Move" he grabbed Cameron's arm and pulled her out of the way when Melody threw up all over the exam room floor. "Vertigo" He said softly as he reached for some paper towels and checked the clock. The janitor would be in the room in five minutes. She hadn't eaten so it was just saliva. It wasn't a lot, but it was too much for the test. Melody definitely had more going on than they originally thought. Cameron met his eyes and he repeated "Vertigo. Test is done…"

"We need to finish the test…" Cameron argued. "You just did the cold water…. That's half of it…. You can't get a diagnosis without the warm water—"

"Test is conclusive. You watched her eyes. What happened?" He retorted and Cameron frowned. "What were the results, Cameron?" he asked again, in a kinder tone. He wasn't watching her eyes, but he knew she was. Cameron's eyes flashed and he knew she was mad but they needed to take care of Melody.

"Hallway" She said firmly and left the room. Chase followed her quickly, leaving Melody and her parents alone. They were feeling more anxious because the doctors wouldn't tell them what's going on. Once outside Chase closed the door. "Her eyes didn't move sporadically… but they should've…. They just stayed looking straight ahead…." Cameron frowned and looked at him. "Though that might have been due to her blindness…"

"She had vertigo" he said, shrugging "Vomited, too. Though that might just be side effect of the test…" He looked at Cameron. She seemed distant, especially since this morning.

"Maybe she's got Meniere's? It fits…" Cameron said softly.

Chase nodded. He touched her arm but she pulled away. "What?"

"We're at work!" She snapped and he blinked.

"Babe?" Chase blinked and she shook her head. He just didn't get it. "Hey, I'm just trying to treat our patient…." She blinked and studied the floor. He sighed. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't… please?" She said looking at him. "I already feel bad about snapping and you're not helping" she ran her fingers through her hair.

"So what do you want me to do?" He asked softly. He didn't want to make things harder and he loved her. He figured the best thing to do during her mood swings was to just agree with her.

She blinked "I don't know. I guess I'm just…. Everything is crazy…..I feel crazy" She grinned sheepishly "I know I'm crazy"

"You're pregnant" He added with a small laugh and she nodded and smiled. "It's hormones."

"More craziness…." She said softly "I get mad then happy and then I yell at you….then I feel awful… you should hate me" He brushed a lock of loose hair behind her ear and kissed her cheek. "Or not" She smiled and brought her lips to his. He didn't care that there were patients all around and nurses and other doctors and neither, it seemed, did she. All of that just melted away and it was like they were the only two on earth.

When they broke apart she blushed. Chase chuckled as he murmured "If we didn't have a patient waiting I might suggest we find the storage closet" She rolled her eyes but giggled.

"Thanks" She smiled. "I love you" He squeezed her hand.

"I love you, too." He kissed the top of her head. "I was just worried about you…"

"I'm not made of glass—" Cameron added and he blinked. "I guess I'm just tired of everyone treating me like I can't do my job… you, House, whenever I walk down the halls I get looks from nurses and doctors and everyone who knows…" He touched her arm and she didn't pull away this time. "I just wanted something that was ours… our relationship has been under scrutiny since before we were even a couple… so will the pregnancy…I can still do my job. House doesn't think I can…"

"Cameron… you don't have to prove anything to anyone. You are an amazing doctor but maybe you should rest…take it easier than you have been…" Chase added softly. She sighed. She knew he was right.

"I can be a doctor. Sure, I can't run some of the diagnostic tests but I'll do what I can. Always. You know that…." He nodded. "I know I'll get even crazier with the hormones as the pregnancy goes on…" She smiled sheepishly and he laughed. "So I apologize on behalf of whatever I do or say later on…" He nodded and took her hand. She smiled.

"So you think Meniere's?" Chase added, getting back to Melody. "But she's too young…"

"Early on-set? Makes sense with her hearing loss and her balance… but the blindness?"

"She has vertigo… the test made it worse, with the vomiting… what if her blindness is something different? It's just an additional symptom… or disease… or whatever… Her blindness isn't related to the dizziness and hearing loss" Chase added. Cameron nodded "I think we just found out what's wrong" Cameron grinned as he continued "Poor kid. She has Meniere's, an autoimmune disease, and allergy to something in the medical cabinet…"

"And she's blind from birth." Cameron reminded him as she laced her fingers in his hand.

"And blindness" Chase nodded. "You tell House and the team…. I'll tell her family?" He was relieved they may have finally solved the case. He walked back into Melody's room, alone, to give Melody and her parents the news that they found out about their daughter. "Hopefully she'll be able to be discharged in a few days"

* * *

"Best part of any case: Paperwork" House said setting down the case folder on the Diagnostics Room table. Thirteen looked skeptical as Chase and Foreman laughed.

"Maybe to you, because the clients are gone and you don't have to talk to them" Cameron added. She was leaning on Chase and he had an arm around her. Thirteen grinned at Cameron's comment and House rolled his eyes.

"So it's too bad that your girlfriend left, huh, wombat?" House grinned.

Foreman blinked and his brow furrowed in confusion "What do you—Cameron's right here?"

"He means Melody." Chase explained. "And she's fifteen and not my girlfriend."

Thirteen and Cameron grinned. "I like that the last thing you mentioned was that she wasn't your girlfriend" Cameron teased, lovingly.

"Well I already have a girlfriend whom I love more than anything" Chase answered and kissed her.

House glanced at Thirteen and Foreman. "So as soon as I drop this paperwork off in Cuddy's office… the case is done. So you two decided yet? You going to be single and employed by me or are you going to continue dating and lose your job?" House asked.

"Don't be a jerk" Cameron said from her spot leaning into Chase. House shrugged and turned to Foreman.

"Fine. So what'd you decide?" House asked.

Foreman and Thirteen shared a look. "So we talked and…"

"We're going to take the paperwork to Cuddy…" Chase said quickly. Just to give the others time without them.

"You can stay" Thirteen said and smiled at Cameron. She nodded and they sat back down. "So we talked and…"

"You were right" Foreman added looking at Chase and smiled sadly. "Workplace relationships…complicate things..." He sighed "It's better that we break up"

"I said that… not him" House said, but he looked between them.

Foreman grinned for a moment "Yeah but we saw how their relationship blew up at first… but there's a learning curve…"

Thirteen nodded "We'll still work together. We work well together and I mean maybe we can date in the future?" Foreman shrugged but smiled at the possibility.

House snorted "Oh sure, now that you've been caught you ask permission" The other couple watched, not sure if they should make some other excuse to leave. "Oh come on, you two wouldn't be that insensitive... your coworkers just broke up…"

"On your orders" Chase said.

"Does the reason really matter?" house answered picking up his tennis ball and gently tossing it away from himself.

"Only when the reason is our boss is a narcissistic bastard" Foreman said. "Give me the file… I'll take it to Cuddy" with that he left. Cameron and Chase shared a look and the Aussie grinned

"I have to go feed my cat… she's probably hungry" He said and Cameron laughed and slipped her hand into his.

"Kinky" House smirked and the couple rolled their eyes. Thirteen followed them out leaving House alone.

"I fed her this morning…. But we should probably head out anyway." She smirked. They were going to spend tonight looking at new places to live.


	6. Socks and Spaghetti

**AN- Not really a spoiler but I'm modifying the proposal from the show to better fit with my story. Chase and Cameron and all the others don't belong to me. I'm just entertaining myself because I love them as a couple and I love their relationship. Just some minor background: Chase's cat is 'the death cat' because I feel like he didn't believe that she could actually predict death and I know in a later episode there are references to Chase's cat. The case for that is pretty much the same as in the episode where a cat can 'predict' death but her owner dies, so Chase adopts the cat a few months before the story begins. Foreman (and Thirteen) are superstitious about her though and do their best to avoid her.**

It had been more than a month since Melody had been discharged. They'd had a few other cases during that time and Cameron's pregnancy progressed as expected. House enjoyed mocking the parents-to-be especially about Cameron's cravings, her 'pregnancy brain', and other symptoms he found hilarious. Foreman and Thirteen were doing an awkward dance around each other at work both to House's pleasure and annoyance. Though it wasn't as bad as when Cameron and Chase broke up after their 'friends with benefits' relationship. At least 'Foreteens's breakup' didn't leave them incapable of working together. He was just glad all of his fellows were doing their jobs and treating patients without all the drama, besides usual drama that accompanied pregnant women…not that he'd ever say that out loud to Cameron or Chase. Cases were as normal as they could be for the diagnostics team.

"You can always tell how a work week will be based on how the Monday is…." Chase joked as he smiled and Cameron just laughed as he unlocked the door to his place. It had been a really long day at the hospital, filled with paperwork from both House and Cuddy and far too many clinic patients. They were just glad it was finally over. Both Cameron and Chase just wanted to relax and spend a quiet night at home. The hospital had been filled with patients and clinic duty seemed endless for both of them. Chase had unwillingly traded clinic duty with House and he regretted his boss's trickery. They'd both gotten out late, but at least they didn't need to go in super early tomorrow. Tonight they had no plans beyond being together and relaxing. Chase's apartment was filled with boxes because they'd finally decided on a place to live and now all that was left to do was pack up both their places. They'd spent most of the weekend packing up her place and she was mostly living out of boxes when she wasn't spending the night at his house like they were doing tonight. They knew they should work on packing up his stuff that they hadn't donated, but not tonight. Packing can wait. "And with how things were today… this'll be rough week…"

"Oh God, I hope not. Please tell me the rest of the week will be better…" Cameron said with a sigh as she sat down on the couch and picked up the remote, turning on the TV. Chase just laughed and muttered a 'hopefully' as she was flipping through channels. "Hi Dee" she cooed to the cat that was loudly protesting the boxes all over her turf and the interruption to her nap. "Your world's changing isn't it, kitty?" She stroked the cat's ears as the grey cat started purring. "We should really work on packing…"

"Not tonight. We packed all weekend. Let's just relax. Make some dinner…. Watch a movie or something?" Chase said tiredly as he kissed her forehead. "You take a shower, I'll get started on dinner, okay?" Today, she'd been bled on, peed on, puked on, and screamed at. He hadn't been treated much better, but she was the pregnant one. She was definitely showing now and a nearly all of her clinic patients noticed. She nodded but didn't get up from her spot since the cat had climbed onto her lap. Cameron was laughing at the cat who just wanted attention. "What do you want to eat?" He asked as he set his bag down by the door and stepped into the kitchen.

"What do you have?" She challenged with a teasing smile.

"What do you want?" He repeated in the same tone and she laughed. He grinned. "Let me rephrase that…. What does the baby want?" he teased lovingly. She just laughed and she gently slid the cat off her lap. Debbie tried to claim Cameron's lap again.

"Spaghetti?" She asked as though it was a question. She stood up and stretched and the cat jumped to the spot next to the brunette. The cat looked offended as she was moved to the other side of the couch.

He laughed. "Spaghetti can be made. Meat sauce okay?" she nodded and he grinned "Do you want garlic bread?"

"Bread, yes. Garlic, no. Can I have peanut butter on it instead?" she asked as she peeled off her shirt and walked to the hallway, looking for the laundry basket. The cat didn't follow, choosing instead to curl up on the couch and return to her nap.

"So garlic-less garlic bread… with peanut butter?" He chuckled. "Not the strangest craving you've had…." He adds, teasing her. "Basically peanut butter toast and spaghetti." He called as she stepped into the bathroom. He heard the shower start running. He started the water boiling as he thought about the rest of the meal. "We should probably have some sort of vegetable? Spinach? Lettuce? Carrots? What do you think, Dee?" He muttered to himself as he looked in the fridge. He poured some cat food in the dish on the floor by the stove but Debbie didn't even wake up. "Salad!" Chase said as he decided on their vegetable. "That goes good with spaghetti." He was just talking to himself and to the cat.

"Can't hear you. In the shower…" He could hear Cameron laughing from down the hall. The bathroom door was open letting the steam and the smell of her body wash spread throughout the house. Chase left the kitchen as the food started cooking and he grabbed the towel hanging up on the wall. He tossed the towel in the dryer for five minutes so it would be nice and warm for her because the weather was cooling down and it was starting to get colder. Even the walk to the car had been chilly, so a warm towel would be a nice surprise for her after the horrible day she'd had.

He returned to the kitchen and put the bread in the oven and grabbed the lettuce to wash it. He heard the water stop and she grinned as she wrapped herself in the towel. "Thanks, Chase. You are truly wonderful." She called from the bathroom. He smiled as he poured the boiling water off into the sink and let the pasta cool as he started the meat sauce.

She moved to his bedroom to get dressed and he continued finishing dinner. He heard her opening drawers and closing them and he had to laugh to himself. "Babe, don't worry about packing….I can get to it later… Dinner's almost ready…" He stirred the meat sauce and the oven timer went off. He took out the bread and set the timer for the sauce. The bread smelled good and he was pretty pleased with himself. He grabbed the jar of peanut butter and a knife but stopped when he saw her enter the kitchen.

She came out wearing one of his old Melbourne t-shirts and flannel pants. Her hair was wet and dripping down her back but the look on her face was one he hadn't seen on her face before. Her expression was unreadable but the look in hers said it all. "Babe?" He asked, not sure what was going on. She stared at him, perplexed, and held up a tiny purple ring box. Chase blinked and swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. He flinched and took a breath but before he could explain she interrupted him.

"My feet were cold….I—I was looking for socks…" She whispered, staring at him. She felt tears forming in her eyes and her voice was breaking. They'd definitely talked about marriage, but she hadn't thought it would be this soon. It definitely shouldn't have been this soon… They'd agreed to wait on getting engaged until after the baby was born because being new parents would take some getting used to. They didn't want to have to deal with planning a wedding and learning how to care for a newborn. He just looked at her, not saying a word. "I don't want you to propose just because of the pregnancy….and the baby…" She whispered. But he shook his head, this wasn't how he thought he'd propose to her.

"You know we'd talked about getting engaged before you got pregnant…" He answered calmly. He just watched her face, worried he'd say the wrong thing. "It wasn't like I bought the ring when we found out…. I mean….I knew I was going to propose to you for months before that, but with how everything ended at first…when we broke up…and got back together…. I didn't want to ask unless I knew you'd say yes… I didn't want to scare you into it… or anything… But we'd talked about getting married…. We both want to, eventually…" she nodded slowly "Honestly? I'd had the ring since before I even met you." He gave a nervous chuckle and she blinked with surprise. "It was my grandmother's…" he said quickly not wanting to see any more like a psycho than he already was "I got it after Mum died…" He said looking at her and she smiled, touched. "But we don't have to get engaged just because you found the ring…. You can decide when you want to get married" He said softly and smiled at her. "We both talked about it anyway… and we both know it will happen someday… but it'll be your choice when it happens. I love you." He said with sincerity and knew she loved him, too.

"I don't care how it happens…I just—I just want it to happen….." She whispered, stepping closer to him when he didn't move from his spot by the stove.

He stared at her for a moment, just trying to read her face and her expression. "Are-are you proposing to me?" he glanced at the velvet box in her hand and he blinked. She gave a small smile. He was playfully teasing her as he added "With the ring you found in my sock drawer…. that was for you?" They both laughed nervously but she smiled wider this time. She shook her head for a moment and he faltered. He felt better when she smiled at him.

"I'm…I'm proposing… that you pro—propose to me?" She asked hopefully. He smiled and exhaled as he stepped closer to her. "Hoping…" she admitted softly. Carefully, he took the ring box from her and knelt in front of her with a smile. She laughed, nervously and as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, she threw her arms around him. He couldn't even get a word out before she responds with a resounding "Yes." He slipped the ring on her finger and they laughed as he kissed her. There were tears in her eyes and she smiled. They wrapped their arms around each other and they kissed. The moment was broken when the kitchen timer beeped for the meat sauce. Chase leaned his head back and groaned at the timer and Cameron was giggling.

"Time for dinner." He said with a laugh as he helped her to her feet. They were both extremely happy and neither stopped smiling the entire meal. He pulled her chair out as he put everything on the table. She didn't sit right away and instead went to the fridge, rummaging around. "Babe?" He laughed, "What are you looking for?… the salad dressings are on the table…" There was an almost empty bottle of Caesar dressing and a half-way full one of Italian left over but that was it.

"Do you have steak sauce?" She asked and he blinked.

"For your salad?" Chase asked, trying to keep a straight-face. He'd used the last of it the other day and with both of them packing up and in the process of moving, he felt it wasn't a necessity that he buy more. She sat down with vegemite and he almost laughed. "If you're going to mock me…." He shook his head but smiled when she smiled. "I thought you said you wanted peanut butter toast?" He kissed her cheek and she grinned.

"I do" she answered as she took her knife and spread it on the salad in her bowl. He just watched, uneasily.

"You know, that's not for salads... unless you add something to it to make it dressing…. That goes on bread…." He answered, trying to hide his half-teasing grin. "Like toast…" He made a face as he watched her use her fork to 'mix' it into the lettuce. "So much for no weird cravings tonight… I guess." He was only partially joking, but he smiled just the same.

His fiancée just laughed. "You're not allowed to say anything. I've seen you eat this stuff out of the jar…" She was only half-teasing. They both just laughed and he shook his head muttering about the 'unique' fascinations Americans had with peanut butter. But they were laughing and happy. She kissed him and he squeezed her hand.

They held hands as they continued eating until Debbie meowed loudly. "Stop begging." Chase answered his cat and Cameron grinned. "You were fed." He loved that cat and spoiled her.

"Mrrrreow!" she yowled towards Cameron who was watching the interaction of her boyfriend…fiancé she mentally corrected herself with a smile and his very spoiled cat. She was highly amused and found the whole thing highly entertaining.

"Don't you dare complain to her. You didn't eat, Dee. You have food in your dish. I fed you while making dinner…" He laughed as though it were perfectly normal to argue with your cat. Another meow and an indignant look from the feline. "I know." He answered, before he turned to kiss Cameron's cheek. She giggled at her fiancé and the cat. "Eat your food, cat, you're not getting any of this…." They were laughing and Cameron rubbed the grey cat behind her ears until she ran off. Chase shook his head at the cat, but laughed. They were holding hands as they ate, he was sure if House could see them, he'd describe them as 'sickening', but hey, they just got engaged.

As they finished eating Cameron smiled and spoke. "You know there is one problem with this amazingly gorgeous ring, right?" She asked as she wiggled his fingers letting the diamond catch the light. He stopped and stared at her, worried. She laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I can't wear a ring to work….. not with gloves." She smiled "It'd just get caught and tear straight through them." She laughed at how relieved he looked when he realized that she was just teasing him.

"You know, I have actually thought about that…" Chase teased back with a smile that lit up his entire face as he stood up and looked for something on the counter. He came back to the table with a silver chain. "May I have the ring back, please?" Cameron smiled and handed the ring back to him. Chase put the ring on the chain and she smiled. He fastened it around her neck as she lifted up her wet hair. They kissed again as she let her hair fall. "I'll go shower really quickly…Your hair smells good…" That earned him a laugh.

She grinned. "I'll do the dishes. Since you made dinner, it's only fair I do the dishes." He nodded and left her to go rinse off. She pulled her hair into a braid and gathered up all the dishes. The cat kept rubbing Cameron's legs as she moved around the room. "Won't work, Dee." She grinned as she glanced at the half empty dish. "You need to eat your food, kitty….." she laughed as she heard the water stop. She saw him walk past with the towel as he walked into the bedroom. "Chase?" She said, trying not to laugh at how argumentative the cat seemed to be tonight.

"Yeah?" He called from the other room.

"Your cat is not eating her food…." She complained and she laughed as she remembered she was using the same tone of voice as she did when she was growing up and wanted to get Danny in trouble.

He chuckled and he came back into the living room. "She's a cat" he said as though that was the answer and they laughed as Debbie wandered off. "Wow, you cleaned up fast….." He was impressed with how quickly she'd done the dishes. Her response was just to kiss him and run her fingers through his wet hair. "We're engaged" He added amazed and like he couldn't quite believe it yet. She giggled and he laughed. It felt so good to say that out loud.

"We should probably tell House… and Cuddy… and the rest of the team…." She said shrugging.

"Or… we can…not tell House…." Chase answered playfully with a smirk.

She laughed. "I like that plan….." He kissed her as he wrapped his arms around her. "Yeah, a secret that's ours and only ours…." She murmured and held him close. "But… I'll probably call Mom tomorrow morning before we head into work just to tell her we're engaged, but not going to get married until the distant future…." He smiled and nodded.

That was when he groaned again. "Paperwork…." He complained and she looked at him intrigued and amused. "Damn paperwork…."

"For House and Cuddy?" she laughed, not understanding "I thought we weren't telling them….."

"We should probably tell Cuddy…. Eventually" He answered "But no…. we've got to tell the government… or I guess we don't… not yet…." He shook his head, internally debating with himself and she was lost.

"Hold on… what?" She asked, blinking as he kept murmuring to himself.

"Although I guess… it doesn't… no it does…. Yeah…." He frowned "Stupid…"

"Chase?" she asked and he didn't seem to hear her so she tried again. "Robert!"

"Hmm?" he asked as he blinked and kissed the top of her hair. He was distracted and she slipped her fingers in his hand so they were intertwined with his.

She smiled to herself for a moment but looked at him. "Who's stupid and why is their knowledge of our engagement important?...or not?" She asked intrigued.

He grinned. "The government…. Or more specifically, your government, Miss American." He teased, lovingly. She almost laughed at his expression when he realized "I'm Australian" she nodded, not sure how to respond so she let him talk and figure things out loud. "I'm here on Visa…." He looked up, "Although with the type… medical specialty…." He nodded to himself.

"Are you expecting your visa to expire?…. I thought you had another year and a half before you needed an extension…"

"We have got to apply for a marriage license… but I think we can wait to start that paperwork…. Because we're not going to get married for a while…" He nodded but frowned. "If I understand it right, we'll need to apply for extra licensing beyond if we were both citizens of the 'good ol' America'." He grinned and said the last bit in a fake American accent and Cameron just laughed. Returning to his regular accent, he added "But as for my Visa… once we're married I can just change my status to 'married' rather than a work thing" He grinned. "They'll probably want to interview us…just to make sure we're 'real'" She rolled her eyes at the insinuation that they were anything but real, but she nodded. "But enough of that for tonight…"

She kissed him. "When should we start on the paperwork?"

He shrugged "Not sure. But we probably won't get married for…like…a year…or more?" He looked at her, fine with whenever she wanted to get married.

"A year?…. So about six months for the baby to be born and then another six months to get used to being parents?" Cameron teased and Chase just laughed. "That works."

"But let's not worry about that now…." he kissed her and she smiled. "We just got engaged tonight" they both laugh. He walked into the living room and flopped onto the couch. He pulled her into his arms and she curled against him. "Maybe watch a movie?" he asked as he kissed her neck "That was the original plan for tonight…" She giggled as the cat meowed and tried to climb on the couch.

"But the original plan for tonight didn't involve getting engaged…" Cameron teased Chase as he pulled her closer. He kissed her and she smirked, curling into his chest.

"I like the deviation from the plan much better" he joked and she laughed "Oww, Debbie!" Chase protested as she ran up the couch, using her claws in his leg. He pushed the cat off the couch and she made her displeasure known. "No claws, stupid cat." He said affectionately. Cameron just giggled. "Sleep on the back of the couch or the arm, but there's not enough space for all of us here… and I can promise you, Dee, Cameron will win the couch space every time." She was laughing at him and he grinned. The cat walked through them to the arm of the couch, obviously making her point known. The couple just laughed.

"So we can watch a movie after dinner like we'd originally planned…." Cameron grinned and Chase just laughed as he rubbed her shoulders. She leaned into his touch, feeling amazing. He grinned.

"Am I good chef of peanut butter toast?" he teased as he kissed her. She laughed and nodded. "So what movie do you want to watch?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer to him.

"I picked what we ate for dinner, you pick the movie we watch…." She kissed him. "Or… we can start a movie and then not watch it…." Cameron said playfully with a smirk.

"I like that plan" he added and kissed her collarbone as she giggled. She was running her fingers through his hair.

"Happy Tuesday" she giggles; kissing him as he chuckles.

"Uhh, no… It's Monday, babe… at least for a few more hours…" Chase teases as he kisses her, pulling her closer to him and she nestles into his chest.

"I know" She smirked "I just don't feel like waiting. I love you." They smile and kiss as they wrap their arms around each other. They hold each other close. The movie is completely ignored and so is the cat who just purrs as she curls into a ball on the arm of the couch.


	7. Brian's Brother

**AN-Someone Cameron used to know comes in to the clinic and Cameron's past catches up with her. I don't think Cameron's husband's name has ever been mentioned in the show. If it has, I apologize. All information about him has been taken from little bits we know about him, like for example how Cameron said her husband died six months after they got married. I own nothing you see mentioned: not House or the characters and not Superman. The Vitamin D deficiency idea came from when my Dad was in the hospital after a surgery years ago and sitting outside helped his lethargy so I wanted to include it here.**

Cameron hadn't slept the night before. She'd spent the night watching Chase sleep beside her. It wasn't that she hadn't wanted to sleep; her mind just kept racing and wouldn't give her peace. She knew sleep was important, especially as her baby grew. She was exhausted and at first she thought that was all it was. She hoped that's all it was. That she'd imagined it due to her tiredness since she hadn't been sleeping much…but she froze as she walked into the room. She had gone to talk to one of the nurses as chase headed upstairs. Cameron walked in to the patient's room but had to do a double take when she saw _his_ eyes... "Alli?" Four doctor's heads snapped up in unison at her name being uttered by the patient. Cameron froze as she heard that familiar voice say her name. No, it wasn't _him_ … _he_ was gone. _He_ was never coming back. It was just the date that got her this emotional. She felt like she was suffocating even as she took a deep breath as she forced herself to look at the bed. But looking again confirmed her worst fears. "Oh my god…. Alli…. It's you…It's really you?" The other doctors all stared at her, trying to figure everything out.

Helplessly, she glanced towards the bed and in it was the latest patient. _No. Not him… anyone else…. Please._ She begged silently, but her hazel eyes met his green eyes. The sound she made could only be described as an inhuman squeak. Chase opened his mouth in concern but no sound came out. "Hi, Max." Cameron whispered almost silently as she finally found her voice after staring at him, wide eyed. Five other pairs of eyes were staring at her, but the only ones that mattered in that moment seemed to relax as he smiled at her, relieved she was really here. The other four doctors searched her for any clue as to how Cameron knew the patient and her strange reaction to him. "It's been years…." She whispered, her mind was working overtime, trying to think of some way, any way to explain herself to him. But there was nothing she could say. No excuse because they had been grieving and she just walked away.

"Eight, I'd guess….maybe…" _a lot longer than that_ she thought. Ten years. They both knew when she left. His smile was far too forgiving… "It's good to see you…You're a doctor now" He said as he grinned. He was happy she became a doctor she was always so interested in the medicine and _his_ care. He was just happy to see her, even under the circumstances but she shook her head. She couldn't. It was just too much. He was just too much. Max just studied her face, wanting to memorize every detail because she was one of the last links he had to Brian. "I'm so glad to see you"

"I—I… can't do this….I—I'm sorry...I—I can't…I—I gotta—gotta…I…I gotta go..." She nearly bolted from the room and Chase watched her go. House and Foreman looked at Chase quizzically. He shrugged and got up to check on her. She ran down the empty hallway and into an old filing room, because she knew it would be empty. She knew she shouldn't be in here but she just didn't care. She couldn't be around anyone right now. She fell to the floor, sobbing, as she hugged her knees. Her emotions were already scrambled but the date certainly didn't help. October 19th. It was her dead husband's birthday today and she shouldn't have called in today. She knew it the moment she woke up this morning. But she still felt like she had something to prove, especially to House because all the crap he gave her. She didn't want to take sick days more than necessary. Chase had told her she should probably stay home and that House would understand.

"Cameron?" she heard that familiar accent that any other day she'd love, but today it was just too much. She felt so guilty. She was engaged to Chase and she felt guilty to Brian's memory, almost like she betrayed him, though she knew that was foolish. She was incredibly happy with chase and she was completely head over heels for him. She didn't make a sound and wouldn't look up as Chase opened the door and found her hugging her knees as she laid down curled up on the floor.

"I'm sorry" Her breathing was ragged and she wiped her tear streaked face. "I'm sorry." She whimpered as he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry."

He just stroked her back and kissed her hair. "Hey…. Hey, it's okay….You're okay… you're okay…" She just sobbed into his chest. "You don't have to go back in there….you don't need to…. House can take you off the case…." He didn't know who the man was but he hated seeing her in pain. She just shook her head. She wiped her eyes as her breathing slowed. He kissed her and she felt safe in his strong arms.

"I'll be okay… it was just…. Just… overwhelming…" She sniffled and blinked back tears. "Max… he's… he was my… he was Brian's brother." She whispered almost silently. "Today was Brian's birthday…" Chase kissed her forehead as he stroked her back. He wanted to say something to help, but he knew there was nothing he could say. Nothing she would want to hear. He'd seen a picture of Brian. On Cameron's nightstand, there was the picture from their wedding day. She looked so happy and he looked so in love with the woman that was holding his hand. They were laughing in the picture. He was young when he died, never really knowing life. But he was old enough to be a husband and old enough to die. Brian knew a part of her, Chase could never hope to understand, no matter how long they are married and that was okay.

Chase recognized the green eyes that the patient shared with the man in the picture frame. The doctor thought back to the frame. Their faces were different, but they were brothers. He couldn't imagine what it was like for her, to walk into work and see Max sitting in the hospital bed on his brother's birthday.

"You don't have to go back." Chase repeated to his fiancée as he kissed her. They'd only been engaged for a week and a half so far but nobody besides Cuddy knew. They'd only told Cuddy two days ago and she wouldn't tell anyone. Cuddy had hugged them both and gave her congratulations and they could tell she had been genuinely happy for them.

"What's he doing here? He's our patient?" She asked, taking a deep breath to calm her frayed nerves.

"I don't know." Chase admitted. "I think he's overflow? From another department…House never said anything about a case…" She nodded and took his hand. He squeezed her lightly and kissed her tear-stained cheek. Cameron was definitely at the point where she can't button her lab coat and there was no hiding their pregnancy anymore. Not that there was ever a possibility of that. All the hospital workers knew; House made sure of that. He practically told everyone in the weeks since Melody Chung had been discharged. House gleefully told the janitors and hospital workers who'd never even met the couple. "You okay?" Chase asked and she had no idea how to answer that question.

"I don't know…" she whispered and he kissed her forehead. "House is…."

"Don't worry about it." Chase promised. "He won't say a thing." She nodded and looked at him. She twirled her ring where it hung around her neck. "He's a jerk but he's not that much of an ass…" That got her to smile.

"I love you." She murmured softly as she kissed his cheek. He just smiled and squeezed her hand, rubbing her palm. She leaned into him as he wiped her tears away.

"Love you, too." He said. Slowly, they stood up. "You don't have to go back…"

"I should. I'm a doctor. It's my job to treat patients." Cameron said softly. Her voice was thick and she sighed. Chase nodded. He squeezed her hand lovingly as they walked back to the room where they knew everyone was waiting. He kissed the top of her head before they let their hands fall to their sides. He gave her a reassuring smile and she did too. "Thank you." She whispered to him as she opened the door. They could feel Foreman and Thirteen's gazes as they walked in, but House was talking to Max, trying to understand his puzzling symptoms. Both Foreman and Thirteen could tell Cameron had been crying but she and Chase's faces were unreadable now; they were just doctors again.

House didn't look up from the paperwork in his hand as he spoke. "Cameron. There's a centrifuge tube that needs recalibrating…" He glanced at her for a brief moment as she nodded.

"I'll go fix it… Thanks for letting me know." She said softly and left the room. She knew that was all her boss was going to say about her outburst and for that she was relieved. Foreman blinked and stared at Chase. He shrugged, having no idea about what that meant.

* * *

When Cameron returned to the room, Chase and Thirteen were gone. House was sitting in a chair, flipping through paperwork. Foreman was standing by the bed listening to Max.

"Yeah… I know the history's a bit…muggy, you could say" he sighed "Cancer runs in my family. Not by parents...but my brother…My younger brother… he… had thyroid cancer. He was diagnosed when he was twenty one. For one year… they tried to treat him. Surgery, chemo, radiation… everything they could try…. For one year…. Then he got the news…. He was terminal. He was going to die. There was nothing anyone could do…It spread…. Metastasized to his brain and lungs… and everywhere else….eight months later…. He was gone." Max said softly. He closed his eyes and when he opened them they were glassy. "Today was his birthday."

"Oh my god… I'm so sorry." Foreman said sincerely and House scoffed at Foreman's reaction. Cameron glared at him, but none of the men saw.

Max blinked as he nodded. Even after almost ten years, it didn't get any easier. "His widow….she got it worse… She was the one to go through it…. She watched him die." He wasn't looking at her, he just looked straight ahead as he talked about his brother. "I came to see them as often as I could… but she was with him day in and day out. Everyday."

"What was your brother's name?" House asked softly, glancing at the brunette doctor looking anywhere but at Max or his charts. He knew from Cameron's reaction that her husband and this man's brother were the same man.

"…Brian." Cameron whispered nearly silently and Max didn't answer. No one heard the woman speak. House's blue eyes flickered into her brown ones and she said a little louder. "His name was Brian."

Foreman blinked at her response and how the patient reacted to her earlier. That was news to him. "You knew him?"

"I married him." She said softly. "Br-Brian. He was my husband. Max is his older brother."

Foreman stared at her. "Cha-Chase and Thirteen are running the blood tests…." It was the first words out of his mouth because his brain was too stunned to form rational sentences. She nodded.

"House's orders?" She asked, knowing it was. That man didn't trust the nurses to not screw up. "I just calibrated the centrifuge… It's good for use now…" she added. Foreman nodded, although he didn't really understand why she had to be the one to fix it when they had many techs and nurses. But he knew House had his reasons.

* * *

"So patient is a thirty-seven year old with no medical history beyond torn ACL in college. Claims he's always been healthy… though family history might disagree" Cameron glared at him, but he scoffed. "He comes in to the clinic complaining of migraines and rashes. He says he's disoriented." House spoke as he stood at the white board. "They bring him to us… so it must be a mystery."

"Liver damage." Chase added. House nodded and added that to the symptoms.

"Not from alcohol or drugs…." Foreman said, looking at the results. "His Tox results came back clean…."

"Eventual transplant case?" Thirteen asked looking around the room at the others "If his liver's bad enough….." Foreman studied Cameron but she didn't make any sign she knew him.

"Wouldn't qualify and he's not late stage enough to need one, even if he did…." Cameron shook her head. She was doing her best to keep her distance. He was just another patient.

"Dialysis then?" Chase asked, trying to think of what it could be. "Can't live without a liver…"

"Kidneys seem to be functional." Cameron responded, looking at his chart. "Bilirubin's high…"

"Because his liver's failing." House repeated. "What else could it be?…."

"He didn't look jaundiced…" Foreman said with a frown.

"Of course not, he's not a newborn." House snapped, though they knew jaundice wasn't only in babies. "I want diagnoses… not symptoms."

"Hepatitis?" Foreman suggested.

House shook his head "Doesn't fit. Try again"

The other four glanced at the board. "I knew someone at school… she had chicken pox as a kid… but she got it again after getting the flu second year at Uni… the rashes are consistent with his" Chase said as he thought aloud. "Reye's disease?"

"If that's some Australian thing, he doesn't have it." House shook his head. "Besides that's in kids, isn't it?"

"Adults can get it…." Chase pointed out. "But it's more common in kids…."

"Did he get the chicken pox?" Thirteen asked.

"So what about something more likely to happen to adults…" House repeated firmly looking at his ducklings. "Thirteen, go down to nephrology and see if they can get a Hep Test today" She nodded and left the room. "GIVE ME GUESSES!" He snapped at the other three.

"Any number of bilirubin things…." Chase said simply. "What tests has he had done?"

Cameron looked at the results from Max's bloodwork. "CBC and urine are in the normal ranges, except his bilirubin is high"

"You shouldn't even be in here!" House told her. "You should be off the case… it's a conflict of interest"

"What about Stacy's husband? We took her case" Cameron glared at her boss.

"I wasn't married to her!" House yelled and Cameron frowned. She knew he had a point but still. She could be objective.

"I wasn't married to Max." Cameron crossed her arms. "Brian has been dead for almost ten years" Both she and House glanced at Foreman and Chase. Neither liked the way they were being looked at.

"We're staying out of this…." Both guys said simply. House rolled his eyes and left the room with a slam of the door. Wilson would have advice for him.

Cameron buried her face in her hands and groaned. Chase stepped closer to her and she looked at him. "I'm not going home…. I can't… So I might as well make myself useful" she sighed to herself and they nodded. Foreman glanced at Chase. Chase brushed his fingers against hers and she smiled. "So what should we do?" She asked. She was doing her best to put this behind her and to do what they would do if Max were any other patient.

"House is convinced it's something environmental…." Chase said as his shoulders slumped because he wasn't sure. "But maybe it's not…" Cameron shrugged, she honestly had no idea. It had been ten years since she'd last seen the man. "Then I guess we'll have to check his house….Ask for keys, I guess. You want me to?…I can…"

"I got it" She said more to herself than to Chase. He nodded and she opened the door into Max's room. "So we have a strange request…. If you're willing to help us?" Cameron said, having calmed down from the morning.

"If it's another blood test….. I think I gave the limit last time….." Max said with a smile.

Cameron laughed. "No it's nothing like that…We want to check your home for possible environmental causes for your symptoms…. Just check out your house for gas or toxins… can we borrow a key and have your address?" She asked. More often than not, this was how they got into patient's houses. He nodded and gave her the information she asked. Foreman and Chase were going to check out Casa de Max.

Thirteen and Cameron stayed to run some more tests on Max to see if they could find something while the two guys went to search for possible clues. Wilson came in at House's request to run a full body blood panel because he was one of the only hospital workers with the privileges for that test. Nephrology was way overbooked, so they'd send someone in tomorrow to run their tests. "Hello, I'm James Wilson with the oncolog-"

"You said I don't have cancer" Max looked to Cameron, his voice full of all kinds of accusations and she flinched. "I get checked every six months…I don't have cancer!" Wilson blinked and glanced around the room.

"Chill" House said "Boy Wonder, here, is the only one qualified to run the test…. It is used to determine some cancers, yeah…. But not for you. We want to check your liver…..not for cancer" he repeated, looking from the man to Cameron. "Just to see if we can rule out anything….."

"It's sort of an x-ray…. But we can't use the MRI machine….you've got some metal in your shoulder" Wilson continued to explain as he looked to Max who nodded. "We'll take you down to radiology…"

"How long have you been with Oncology?" Max interrupted the other doctor. Wilson knew what he was really asking.

"I haven't been in New Jersey long enough… I wouldn't have treated…"

"It would have been Chicago" Cameron said softly and Wilson blinked before looking back at the patient.

"I moved here about three years ago for work. I was transferred…" Max explained and Wilson nodded.

"You've come to a good place, our diagnostics department is the best in the world" Wilson said glancing at Cameron and Thirteen. Never mind the fact that they were one of the few diagnostics departments.

* * *

"Remember that year… you came for Easter?…" Max mumbled sleepily as Cameron changed his IV during the night. "I thought Ma was gonna kill that dog…. The way she jumped all over everyone…knocking over the toddlers..."

"The dog stole the turkey….we had to eat tv dinners instead" Cameron laughed for a moment, lost in memory. They'd been married for barely two months and it was the first time she'd met Brian's family. "Your sister…Sarah…?"

"Suzanna." Max said nodding, "Her kids were toddlers, then….the twins…. they're in junior high now…." He said softly. Cameron smiled, remembering how the two small children hung on her every word.

"Yeah…." She smiled sadly, remembering them. She felt guilty for leaving the way she did, but she wasn't part of that family anymore. She left two months after the funeral and walked out of their lives forever. She couldn't be part of them anymore, it was just too painful. Every time she saw any of them, all she could see was Brian. Max had his eyes. The sister, that she'd met only twice, had his laugh and his smile. Cameron had to walk away; it was better for her and it was better for them. She went on to go to medical school and dedicated her life to immunology and medicine.

"Am I going to die?" He asked suddenly. Chase looked up at the fear in Max's words and caught Cameron's eye.

"Max…." she said softly.

"Just about killed Ma to lose him….. she can't lose me, too." Max's words were slurred as the medication was doing its job.

"You're not going to die…." Chase promised. "We're going to find out what's wrong….. we're good at helping cases that other doctors have trouble with…." The man slowly closed his eyes, he was definitely fighting sleep. Many of their patients did, especially when they were convinced they were going to die. Cameron adjusted his meds and Max slowly blinked. Chase slipped his hands into hers and slowly Cameron let her head fall to her fiancé's chest and he rubbed her back. They watched him grow tired and his breathing slowed rhythmically until they knew he was asleep. "We should probably head home, too…. Late night" Chase said softly. Cameron blinked at him, there was so much to say and so few words to say it in. "You look exhausted, babe…." He said and she nodded, sleepily.

"When we get home….Gotta feed the cat" she grinned and he smiled.

"Hopefully she'll let us sleep tonight…" He replied and she laughed. The last few nights the cat has torn through the house, her revenge for the two of them moving and not giving her a choice.

"She's just protesting….." Cameron said with a smile

"At three in the morning?" Chase wasn't convinced.

"Well it's almost two now…" she answered and he nearly laughed. "Maybe she'll be waiting for us and be ready for bed…."

"You doing okay?…." It had been a long day for her and it couldn't have been easy.

She leaned into him and smiled. "I'm better than I was…." She said after a few moments of silent thinking. He nodded and kissed her forehead.

* * *

Chase and Cameron got home and both were glad their commute was shorter than it used to be. Even at two in the morning with hardly any traffic, they were glad the drive was shorter. "Hey Debbie" Chase announced to the cat as they heard her bell jingling as she wondered from room to room, relieved her owners came home. "Babe… you don't have to say anything…" Chase said seeing Cameron's eyes as she turned on the light. She'd nearly fallen asleep in the car, but now she was quiet. He knew this was hard for her.

Stubbornly, she shook her head. "Today. October nineteenth was his birthday." She wasn't looking at Chase as she spoke. "We got married on February 7th." She wasn't looking down. She just looked straight ahead. He watched her carefully, and she didn't move her hand when he stroked her palm. "He…he…" she blinked and her voice was breaking. She shook her head "I was a widow on August 25th." Chase rubbed her back and gently stroked her face. "The Funeral was September First." Every single one of these dates was burned into her brain and she knew no matter long she lived, she'd remember them. It would be the same as the important dates with Chase. The day their baby was born. Their wedding day. Chase nodded and looked at her, willing to offer her whatever she needed. He knew the day Brian had died and he knew their wedding day but he hadn't known the other dates until tonight. "I thought—" She blinked "November 1st… I was on a plane to anywhere else…I just couldn't stay." she whispered. Her parents had been extremely worried about as was Danny. Cameron hadn't been eating and her life basically stopped the day his did. She knew she needed to get away and so she did. She realized how much medicine intrigued her so she figured why not do her best to help others and she fell in love with immunology. She first applied to different medical schools that night and continued every day until she got that letter of acceptance. "Their sister I'd met twice. Easter…and…"

"September First?" Chase finished and she nodded. "Babe—I—I…I'm sorry" his words sounded fake to him. The apology sounded hollow and insincere. To him apologies always did when someone died. He wrapped her in his arms and she felt better, just feeling his gentle touch. She buried her face in his chest.

"Max… I knew. I knew him well. He was over all the time… helping me, helping Brian… keeping him company… keeping us smiling… Max knew how to help when I couldn't—"

"They're brothers. Family knows everything about you…" Chase said, trying to comfort her. "Danny would do anything for you…" Max would have done anything for Brian. That much was obvious.

"And they did" She whispered. Her family had been amazing during everything and they comforted her as she grieved. Her family was still worried about her now and she couldn't wait for them to meet Chase. "Max should hate me… I-I walked away…"

"You were grieving…" Chase reminded her as he kissed her forehead.

"So were they… his family… it wasn't bad enough they lost a son, but a daughter, too?" Cameron shook her head, close to crying again. Chase rubbed her back and the cat rubbed herself against her owners' legs.

"Don't worry… they don't hate you. Max looked pretty happy to see a familiar face" Chase grinned and Cameron laughed. "Come on, let's get to bed…" She nodded and he kissed away her tears.

* * *

"Am the only one who didn't know about Cameron's husband?" Thirteen asked House, the next morning.

"I also did not know Cameron had a husband… or was married" Foreman said quickly. She glanced at him but said nothing. She figured he was lying. He'd been working with Cameron for years, but Thirteen kept those thoughts to herself. They hadn't mentioned their break up but the feelings were all still there. Thirteen enjoyed spending time with Foreman and he felt the same...but they decided them dating wasn't the best right now.

"Had a husband?" Thirteen asked, she'd only found out from Foreman and House when she walked in and heard Foreman saying something about 'Cameron's husband'. "Divorce?"

"Death" House said simply. He was hoping Cameron and Chase wouldn't come in today so he purposely had her take over the night shift of caring for her dead husband's brother. He knew they were busy with moving and she was too damn stubborn to take a day off, they both were… He didn't want to get Cuddy involved but that was always an option, too…

"Death?" She repeated, feeling awful for Cameron. She could only imagine what it was like not only losing your husband, but then to see his family as a patient come into work on his birthday. "Whose?" the question was out before she could stop herself.

"Obviously not Cameron's…. I don't hire ghosts" House snapped and her face grew hot. She didn't know if there was a child involved that had died. Cameron seemed to behave differently when any of their cases involved babies or children, even before her pregnancy.

"….. Do you think Chase knows?" Foreman asked softly. Thirteen shrugged.

House rolled his eyes and lightly hit Foreman with his cane. "Of course, you idiot…. She's having his kid….. I'm sure she mentioned her dead husband to him…but that is strange pillow-talk..."

"How'd you know about him?" Foreman blinked, trying to remember if she had said something. Foreman had found out yesterday, but House seemed to have already known.

"You remember the dead baby that we killed because we were trying to cure the epidemic?" House said suddenly. Thirteen blinked, staring at the two of them and Foreman nodded slowly. The look on Thirteen's face was pure panic and she wondered what happened and how they could be nonchalant about it. "Oh, don't freak out. Only one baby died…. It could have been a lot worse…." House snapped to her, but looked at Foreman.

"She said….. something about how it's easier to die…. Than to watch someone else die….." Foreman tried to remember. "Or something close to it…." He shrugged "It was years ago…..that's… this is what she meant?"

"That's what who meant?" Chase asked coming in with Cameron. Both didn't look ready for work at all, but they were here. House frowned, his plan didn't work. Cameron looked awful and Chase didn't look much better.

"How's moving?" House asked, feigning innocence, seeing how exhausted they both looked. The other three shared a glance that worried the couple. They were hiding something. But to be fair, Cameron and Chase hadn't shared the news of their engagement.

"Don't change the subject…." Cameron mumbled, tiredly. "Who were you talking about?"

"Oh nothing, just some bitchy former wife of a dead patient who complained way too much…." House said grinning as Foreman and Thirteen were trying to get him to stop talking. "Why do you two look like death? You should have just stayed home…"

"The cat is a demon…." Chase muttered as he tried to hide his yawn. "She doesn't understand that sleep is important….."

House laughed and Foreman shook his head. "I could have told you that….." Foreman said. "Your cat is evil…" House and the couple rolled their eyes.

"She is not the Death Cat. Just a cat up all night…It's good practice for the future baby wombat….. or I guess kangaroo? They like pouches…" House grinned. He obviously got plenty of sleep the night before. Cameron rolled her eyes.

"Not funny…." She said, exhausted.

"You should have thought about that before getting knocked up….." House answered with a smug voice.

"Don't please… not today" Cameron muttered and he just nodded. She caught Chase's eye and he smiled. She smiled back. House rolled his eyes at them but said nothing. Cameron left to go check in on Max. He was sleeping when Thirteen came in and he was still sleeping now. "Max?" Cameron asked turning on the light. "Max… are you awake?"

"Go away" he mumbled. "Please"

"Max. You need to get up" Cameron repeated firmly. He shouldn't still be this tired.

"Let me sleep" He mumbled into the pillow. Cameron frowned and looked at him, everything on the monitors seemed normal.

"Max…" Cameron said gently.

"I'm tired. Just let me sleep" he complained, not moving.

"You've got to get up…. It's morning" she repeated then turned to the other open door "Guys, little help?"

"Let him sleep" House shrugged as he spoke and Foreman blinked. "He's tired…"

"Fatigue?" Thirteen asked "Check his iron…"

Cameron bit her lip and looked at Chase as he walked in to help. House, Foreman, and Thirteen were behind him. "Max, you need to get up" Cameron repeated "Come on"

"Let me sleep" he begged and she frowned.

She looked directly at Thirteen when she said quickly "Wheelchair" She said glancing out the window at the bench under a tree where she would often eat lunch.

"What? We can't just transfer him because he's tired…" House said. "You kept him up last night running tests…what'd you think would happen?" Chase glared at him and House smirked. "Do you have any idea what she's talking about or this more 'pregnancy brain' crap?"

"No!" Cameron snapped. "I don't know if it'll work but we're going to try something we can't in a hospital room" Chase followed her gaze to the window where the sun was shining.

"Vitamin D?" Chase concluded and she nodded "That might explain the fatigue… but not his liver or bilirubin levels." Cameron shrugged as she nodded.

"It's just an idea" She said simply as she looked down.

"It's a good idea" Chase told her with a smile and she grinned.

House scoffed "He hasn't been in the hospital long. Wouldn't have a deficiency… Too bad about Earth's Yellow Sun… have him go back to Kypton…" House spoke as though they weren't in Max's room. The others rolled their eyes but Max didn't respond.

"A few minutes outside might do some good. We don't have him on any meds…" Foreman agreed.

"Max, we're going to let you sit outside in the sun for… fifteen minutes?" Chase looked to the others and they nodded "Fifteen minutes… there'll be a nurse with you if you need anything…But maybe being in the sun might help" Chase said as Nurse Brenda entered the room with a wheelchair.

Max just nodded and Chase and Foreman helped Max into the wheelchair and Nurse Brenda brought him to the benches outside. The five doctors just walked back into the other room to debate their next plan of action.


	8. Truth Be Told

**AN- As always nothing you see in this story is mine** **I figured it was time for the 'secret' engagement to come out because House is nosy about his team. Sorry for not updating in a while. My summer has been preoccupied with an internship. I'm glad you guys like this story because it's very fun to write.**

As the doctors watched Max and Brenda talking outside, he was perking up. Just being outside seemed to help. "Good job, Cameron" House said, no hint of sarcasm in his voice and she stood a little taller after that. "How'd you know that would work?"

She glanced at Chase for a moment and he gave her an encouraging smile. She hadn't told him, but it was easy for him to figure out how she knew. "When Brian was sick…. He always wanted to go outside. In the hospital…one day he got really sick and acted kind of like Max was…" The nurses had told her Vitamin D deficiencies were common in cancer patients and to be cautious of any lethargy and to alert them immediately if Brian exhibited any of those symptoms. "Unlike with Brian, Max was able to sit outside to get back to normal. All Brian could do was take extra medicine.

"Must have been in the hospital for a while at that point" House said looking at her, bringing her back from her thoughts. She flinched for a moment and House looked at her suspiciously. She took a deep breath and pulled her hair into a bun.

"Three and a half weeks stuck inside" She confirmed. "He wanted to be outside and feel the sun and smell the wind because when they were growing up…. Brian had said they'd go camping every summer. Max told me they'd spend every chance they could outside… hiking, camping, fishing…"

"Vitamin D deficiency is common in long term patients, but it's his second day here" Chase added thinking aloud.

"Unless he works nights. What's his job… where's he work?" House asked. Shrugs from the team. "Find out!"

"No mention of any of that in his charts…" Foreman frowned, glancing over Max's chart one more time.

"Unless he got hurt while doing it, he probably wouldn't think it important" Chase reminded him. "Lots of patients don't think it's important, you know that" Chase added "… he's still active… I'd assume?" Cameron shrugged. They're guess was as good as hers now. "They ever go camping around mold?"

"His fungal smear and tox came back normal…" Thirteen added with a frown. "If they had there would have been a positive response..." But that would be if it was recent.

"That wasn't the question" House gave her a hard look. "Redo the tests and add another liver test"

"Some fungal diseases could go dormant…find out if they went camping in a moldy field or if it rained." Foreman suggested.

"Have you ever been camping?" House rolled his eyes. "They probably were surrounded by mold but it doesn't matter. His records show he hasn't been sick from mold or pneumonia or anything recently... except it's been years and he's not a child so that's out."

"We can probably just ask him rather than just reading his chart again and again with no new information…" Chase said, glancing towards the benches. "Brenda's bringing Max back up"

* * *

Max glanced up when the five doctors entered. The nurse went up to talk to the blonde Australian, Chase he reminded himself, that kept watching Allison. The oldest doctor looked him over quickly. "Sun did you some good" was all he said and Max grinned.

"Feeling much better." He admitted. "But I still feel dizzy…"

"What medicine did you take?" The other woman asked quickly, trying to see if there had been a reaction earlier.

He blinked. "You're the doc-" They didn't tell him what they put in his IV.

"Before you came in… any aspirin? Allergy pills?" Thirteen asked again.

"No… nothing…. I hadn't taken any pain pills in a few days" Max shook his head. He watched Alli's face as she was trying to figure something out. She looked confused. Without thinking he blurted out "Did you eat today?"

Cameron blinked then her face turned red and all the other doctors, besides the blonde, tried to hide their snickers. "I-I" she faltered and glanced accusingly at Chase, sure he'd mentioned something but she could see by his confusion he was just as surprised as she was by the comment. She instantly regretted her silent accusations.

"Sorry" Max blushed, "I-I didn't mean…" he shouldn't have said anything. It wasn't his place; not anymore. He knew nothing about who she was now. He should have known she wouldn't want to be reminded of her past. The other doctors seemed very curious but he could already tell there was many things about her past Allison Cameron kept secret.

"If the patients notice, you know it's bad" House said, highly amused.

Cameron rolled her eyes at her boss. "Why everyone is fascinated by my eating habits?…I did have breakfast today. Chase made omelets" she grumbled under her breath and Chase scoffed and was about to say something else when Cameron gave him a look. No need to let House know about their morning and why Chase needed to make omelets. He just nodded. He just smiled innocently at her and she grinned back, feeling guilty for accusing him. But the look in his eyes showed everything was fine. Max watched them and smiled to himself; the way they looked at each other as though nobody else mattered.

"Maybe because you're pregnant... and the last time you didn't eat…you fainted" Foreman added and Cameron rolled her eyes. Chase gave him a hard look but didn't say anything. Max froze at that but he felt reassured by the looks from the other doctors.

Max smiled at Cameron as he studied her, glancing at her stomach at those words. "You're pregnant?" He asked and she nodded and Chase watched her carefully.

Grinning at Chase, she added "Fifteen weeks tomorrow" She smiled and Max was happy for her. He never really pictured her as a mom, but he knew that was because he only knew her as Brian's wife and children were never an option for them…

"Congratulations" He truly meant it. She smiled and so did Chase. Foreman and Thirteen pretended they hadn't overheard but House was making that completely impossible.

* * *

Thirteen and Foreman both were working on their clinic duties for Cuddy, so Chase, Cameron, and House were left to deal with Max for the day. "Chase, did you run the cirrhosis test?" House asked the man who was looking over the file again. "What about gallstones? Check for gallstones yet?"

"I can do that…" Cameron said, to try to help Chase tackle his monumental list of tasks.

House gave her a look. "You can't be around lasers or the MRI machine… not with you being knocked up and everything" Cameron bit her tongue.

"You don't use lasers to check for gallstones…" Cameron gave House a sideways look.

House rolled his eyes. "Duh. You use ultrasound to diagnose gallstones. Which he probably doesn't have or there would have been evidence in his catheter or… something. I don't know. I thought you were a doctor." He answered. Turning back to Chase, he added. "Chase, check for gallstones"

"You just said he didn't have them…"

"No. I said he likely did not have them. I never said he didn't. But how many cases have we had that running 'unnecessary' tests showed something important?" House asked and the Australian turned to his fiancée who shrugged. "A good percentage. Do the test" House shook his head and added "What about a Porphyrins irregularity? Run that test yet?"

"Not yet" Chase admitted. House had a laundry list of things for Chase to do because some of the tests she was unable to do due to the risks to their baby. House glanced over to where Cameron was checking Max's catheter and his other tubing. His urine test had come back abnormal so they'd put a catheter in just to rule out other problems. It was easier to 'collect' the samples that way

"Everything looks normal at the moment…" Cameron told the others. "No clogging that I can see."

Clogging? Max was trying to follow the discussion but he was completely lost. He was finding that difficult with three doctors let alone more. Max smiled at the 'normal comment' and tried to understand what that meant. "That's good, right?" She nodded offered him the briefest smile and he grinned, looking at her when something caught his eye. "Pretty necklace."

Cameron lit up at the compliment "Thank you… I love it, too" She said before grinning at Chase. She knew Chase was pleased with the compliment as much as she was. He was even more pleased by it than she was by that smile on his face. House glanced at them but decided it must have been new. He hadn't noticed her wearing a necklace before but he hadn't really been concerned with whatever jewelry she or Thirteen wore.

"The ring…it's a diamond, isn't?" Max asked, being a bit nosier than he normally would with other doctors. Cameron just smiled. House blinked and glanced at the two of them. Ring? What ring? House frowned, he would have noticed if she had a ring on her finger… any finger much less _that_ finger; but her hands were gloved. A diamond ring would have torn the glove. House frowned since all three of them must be playing him. "It's beautiful" Max smiled at the two of them.

"Thanks" Chase smiled and so did she. House thought his wombat would have been jealous or upset but he just looked happy… far too happy to be a man whose pregnant girlfriend's dead husband's brother just show up yesterday. He glanced at her again and Cameron was wearing a necklace. He frowned as he stepped closer to get a better look at her necklace…

"And a ring?!" House asked and he was ignored. "Diamond ring?!" He repeats. "Wombat, what's he talking about?"

"Don't worry about it" the couple says at the exact same time as though they'd rehearsed it. House glared at them. Knowing them they probably had.

"Double negative. That's a yes and I should worry about it. Are you engaged?" House asked again. No answer. "Are. You. Engaged?" He stressed each word and neither reacted. "Did you propose?" He glared at Chase.

"Irrelevant to the case" Chase said simply. This was why they didn't want to tell House. He'd just make a huge deal out of their being engaged even though really nothing had changed. "We shouldn't do a draw with the lethargy this morning…"

"Wrong answer." House said sharply and Chase just looked at him. Medically, doing a blood draw was risky after episodes of lethargy so he didn't understand. Except House wasn't talking about that. He looked at his blonde fellow and raised his cane but didn't strike. He just let it fall to the ground with a loud slam. Cameron rolled her eyes at her boss's tantrum. "Cameron?" House turned his attention to her.

She answered with "Let it go, House. Tests still need to be done. Urinalysis came back with more protein than nor—"

"That wasn't my question. Did. You. Propose?" he looked at Chase and frowned. "You two idiots are engaged, aren't you?" Max blinked in surprise. He felt guilty because he was just trying to make conversation and now he messed everything up. "Answer me!" House yelled, annoyed with the two of them. "Are you engaged or not?!"

"I have to go run the albumin test" Chase said as he stood, leaving the paperwork on the table.

"Get back here, wombat!" House frowned as the other man opened the door. He didn't understand why they wouldn't just answer. "Wombat?! They weren't exactly denying it, but they weren't exactly confirming it. Chase walked out the door but turned around when House yelled "CHASE?!" he was too frustrated to use anything but his real name now. That meant he was in trouble.

"You told me to run the tests… so I'm running the tests" Chase said, frustrated by his boss's mood. There wasn't room for more than one doctor with insane mood swings in diagnostics and lately Cameron took that spot.

"Now, I'm saying not to, you two are more interesting than bloodwork…even it was her brother-in-law…Who cares about the patient!"

"I care" Max said quietly but he was ignored by the others.

"Are you engaged? Did you propose? You're engaged, aren't you?! Wombat?! Neither of you are talking…" House repeated as Chase rolled his eyes and left the room, silently. "Coward!" House yelled down the hall, knowing full well Chase could hear. Turning to Cameron with a worrying glint in his eye he smirked "If he won't admit to being betrothed to you… maybe he's embarrassed by you" House said. Her expression changed almost instantly and he realized that was the worst thing he could have possibly said by the murderous glare in her eyes. "Oh relax, he loves you. Wombat practically worships the ground you walk on." House tried to backtrack, knowing he was on shaky ground. Cameron did smile at that but she gave him a glare that made him thankful she didn't have a scalpel in her hand. "You are engaged?" House asked again for confirmation and she just laughed instead of answering. Her attention was back on Max and she had him do some simple tests like squeezing her hand. They were simple but it was a quick way to make sure he was still fine. She prepped his arm to take some blood. She grabbed the tubes and walked around House as he stood in the middle of the room, perfectly in the way of her pathway. "Caaammeeeerrrooooonnnnn?!" House whined as though he were a little kid. She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to their patient who had silently been watching, wide-eyed. Max kept quiet and revealed his arm to her so she could do a blood draw.

* * *

Cameron was checking Max for more of the skin rashes because he kept complaining about his itchy skin when her phone buzzed. She didn't check it for a moment and just let it ring "You might want to take that" House frowned, especially when she glanced at the phone and yelped in surprise. "You get results on your phone now?" House asked annoyed "Or is it personal?" He was still not pleased with their behavior earlier that morning. Personal life or not, if he asked a question he expected it answered… even if he would just use that information to annoy them later.

"It's an alar—crap, it's already 11:48? Ughhhh, I'm late!" Cameron spoke quickly as she glanced at the phone. House blinked and was about to ask what was more important than their current case when she looked around the room in desperation. "I've got an appointment at noon…" Cameron was talking more to herself, upset that it had completely slipped her mind. She took off her lab coat with record speed and practically thrust it in House's arms. He couldn't do anything beyond stare at her as she rushed out of the room. "Be back in an hour" she called behind her and she was gone. They heard her running down the hall towards the stairs because she had no time to wait for an elevator.

Both men blinked and stared at the door. Turning to Max, House smirked. "Has she always been this distracted?" House asked. Normally Cameron was on top of things and never late for anything much less an appointment. He figured it was a pregnancy symptom or Max. House blamed both.

"Not when I knew her…" Max admitted. Back then Allison had everything color coded and marked down in her little planner thingy she always kept with her. Every doctor's appointment, procedure, hospital activity to help distract Brian, everything was written down. Though there was no need for it because she had everything memorized. It was just one of the things you do when you're twenty-one and your spouse is dying in the hospital. She knew every nurse and doctor on the oncology floor in that hospital because she practically lived there. The sounds, the smells, all of it was also locked in her brain no matter how much she wished it wasn't. Both he and Brian had teased her about her knack for organization and her incredible memory and attention to minute detail… but that must have helped her become such a great doctor, Max mused. "I shouldn't have come here…" Max added softly. "She wouldn't have wanted to see me."

"You track her down?" House asked, impressed. If he managed that, this guy was sneakier than House previously thought.

Max just laughed. "Accident. I came in to the clinic and the other girl… sent me up here…"

"Thirteen's writing referrals now?" House groaned as he hung Cameron's lab coat on the back of the chair. "Bad enough Cuddy hands me reports… but when my own team…."

"Hey, I don't know… just sayin' what brought me in" Max grinned and House watched him because most of his symptoms were mostly generic but sometimes the most generic symptoms turned out to be the most deadly. Though his symptoms were an interesting puzzle.

House was reading through Max's file, just trying to find some dirt on Cameron or any kind of information on what she was like at twenty-one, when the other three returned. "How was the clinic patients?" House said more to Chase because he figured the blonde had been avoiding House.

"Cameron's gone?" Thirteen asked, surprised she wasn't around. They hadn't seen her at all since she and Foreman left to go do their clinics.

"Your fiancée had an appointme—" House said looking at Chase who frowned. House handed chase the lab coat Cameron had pushed into his arms earlier. "Put this away"

"At noon…" Chase began then winced when he realized he had just confirmed they were engaged. He and Cameron talked about the appointment that morning… he'd reminded her to put an alarm on her phone so she wouldn't forget because of her 'pregnancy brain' as House mocked her the other day. Thirteen and Foreman stared at him and started talking at once.

"Fiancée?!" "Did he just say…?" "I think he did…" "Engaged?" "About time." The former lovers were talking over each other.

"Cameron had an appointment at noon… I'll be back—" Chase said turning around again but House caught his wrist. Chase jerked away and stepped farther away from his boss.

"It's almost 12:20 now…You may be a doctor, but only the attending can be late… patients can't" House smirked and Chase frowned.

"It's a hospital. I'm a doctor. I'll find something to do" Chase muttered. "I'll do clinic hours or something."

"You heard House say fiancée, too, right?" Thirteen asked Foreman, trying to confirm. The two of them were completely ignored by Chase and House. Foreman nodded.

"You two, shut up!" House snapped in their direction as he was arguing with Chase. "Why didn't you inform me of your plans in 'holy matrimony'?"

"I didn't think we needed your permission" Chase frowned, annoyed. "We are both adults and this is our choice. It isn't up to you." Chase shook away House's arm and started walking out the door. Of course it involved him. They were his fellows and they worked under him. When they first started dating, HR had a field day… this would be a million times worse.

"Doctor Chase? Can I… talk to you?" Max asked, he'd been quiet earlier when the others were upset, just trying to take in the whole scene. "Uhh… alone?" he glanced at the other three doctors.

Chase nodded in a daze and House smirked. "Someone's in trouble" House grinned. Chase tossed the lab coat at House and the man frowned at his fellow.

"Come on" Thirteen said "What tests did we have to do?" Foreman tried to get House to leave as well.

"Oh come on, don't you want to see the wombat get chewed out by former brother in law….?" House complained. But he say the look on Chase's face and quickly left. "You know what? Angry wombats are not the kind to mess with..." He would leave the lab coat in the Diagnostics Room.

Chase didn't say anything as the others left the room. He just glared at House. Max watched them all. "He's always like that?" Max asked quietly once they were alone

"He's been a bit worse lately" Chase admitted.

Max smiled and began what Chase assumed what he wanted to talk about. "I-I…" Chase's eyes snapped towards him for a moment as Max faltered. Chase looked at him curiously. "You and Allison…" Max said softly. Chase frowned for a moment but Max blinked. The doctor decided while he was here he would check Max's IV port and the catheter. "You guys are good together…I see the way you look at her and the ways she looks at you…"

Chase glanced at him a moment before turning his attention back to the line in his arm. "Yeah?" he wondered what Max was talking about.

Max grinned "Yeah" Alli looked at Dr. Chase like she used to look at Brian. He looked at her like how Brian used to. Max was relieved that she had found someone again, especially as happy as he made her. "You make her happy…"

"She makes me happy" Chase admitted as he grinned. His smile was infectious and Max nodded.

"That much is obvious. How long have you guys been dating?" Max pressed again. Chase had to give the guy credit.

"Almost two years now." Chase said. "You feeling any pain?"

"No pain right now…" Max said and before he could say anything else Chase had asked his next question. He knew he should probably ask about Max's history but he had some other questions of his own, first.

"You knew…about us?" Chase asked and for a second Max thought he was accusing him of something, but he quickly realized Chase just wanted to know how he knew about him dating Allison Cameron. "How?"

Max grinned. "Yesterday… after… uh… I guess… after I spooked her. I didn't mean to. I had no idea how to even react. I was just as surprised as she was… But you went after her, and the look on your face when she left so suddenly. It definitely wasn't the 'concerned for a coworker' and more like… I don't know… but you two are engaged?" Silently Chase nodded again. Max smiled. "Congratulations…"

Chase nodded and smiled but he was still not sure what to say.

Max took his silence as permission to continue. "I'm sorry…About earlier… when I asked... I didn't mean anything by asking if she ate…" he said trying to gauge the doctor's reaction but he was difficult to read, "It was a force of habit" he explained. "With…him… she would forget to eat sometimes because she was so worried and distracted with his care…" Chase nodded. House called it her 'savior complex'. Max looked at him for moment. "Three days before Brian died, I was with him… without her… she was in the hallway talking to a doctor or a nurse or whoever… and he turned to me and said 'make sure she keeps eating after I die'" Chase blinked. He had no idea any of that. "I don't think she even knew he asked me to check on her… but afterwards, she stopped eating like my brother knew she would. It was out of grief, rather than taking care of someone else. I know her family was concerned… she had lost so much weight…"

Chase looked at him as he spoke "That's why she got so freaked out?" Max nodded.

"I-I think so" Max nodded again as he spoke.

"Earlier… with our boss, Camer—er—uh Allison" the doctor grinned, trying to use her given name when he could. "She got mad about the food thing because I had to make omelets" Chase grinned to himself.

Max looked at him strangely at how it related. "…She doesn't like omelets?"

Chase chuckled. "No, not the … it wasn't about the omelets, but the reason why… she didn't want House to know why I needed to make omelets…" Chase looked at Max's file, studying it. If only he wasn't holding the closed file upside down. "Cameron won't be able to do paperwork…not if she forgets….I know it's a good idea if she was having actual memory problems but she's just worried and she's got a million things on her mind lately" He shook his head. "She's just been forgetful or distracted lately" he smiled to himself and Max just watched him, curiously. "That's why I told her to use the phone alarm so she wouldn't forget the appointment…" Max nodded. That made sense. "House loves to tease her about her pregnancy symptoms… so if he heard about this morning…" He shook his head.

Max laughed "What happened? This has to do with the omelets, right?"

Chase laughed. "Sort of, yeah" He grinned reassuringly. "She was getting ready for breakfast and she poured orange juice into her cereal bowl…then she put that into the fridge." Chase explained and they both chuckled. "I don't think she even realized she did it… she asked me if we had any cereal and I just sorta started laughing… 'check in the fridge'… she got so annoyed" Chase grinned and Max laughed. "I made the omelets because I knew neither of us would eat her cold cereal. I threw it away when she went to change her clothes for work" he explained and Max laughed.

"You didn't tell your boss because…?" Max asked trying to understand. If she needed time off or something the man with the cane, _Dr. House_ he reminded himself, seemed to be willing to let her have it. He let her leave earlier… though that seemed more of an 'ask forgiveness rather than permission' sort of thing.

"Are you insane?!" Chase asked suddenly causing Max to blink and stare at him. "You saw how he was about our engagement…" Oh yeah, Max nodded. He seemed pretty upset about that.

"He's insane" Max agreed and Chase laughed. That was completely true.

"But he's a great doctor" Chase added quietly. Max studied the younger man.

"You been working for him a long time?" Chase nodded and Max could see how much the Australian seemed to respect his boss no matter what he said. Actions speak louder than words.

"House's methods may not make sense… but they get results. In fact, our cases are different than most…"

"They send you the unsolvables?" Max asked and Chase nodded, looking perplexed at how he knew that.

"How did you kn—?"

"I was at General and they told me to come here" Max said softly. "They said Dr. House would figure it out because he figures out what others don't… or can't"

"You weren't a referral…" Chase asked, picking up his chart again to look at it. No mention of Princeton General.

Max shook his head. "They said if my symptoms get worse to go to your clinic… the other female doctor was the one who said I needed to come upstairs to Diagnostics…"

"So General suggested you come in… then Thirteen admitted you after talking to you." Chase asked and Max nodded. "That's not what you told House" Chase grinned.

"She told me not to say that I talked to General…" Max said softly.

Chase laughed "I won't tell." He promised and Max smiled.

"Did you guys get engaged just because of me?" Max asked. He knew their boss was convinced that was the only reason.

Chase shook his head. "Nope. Recently engaged… but not last night. We just didn't tell anyone" He smiled. "When your boss thinks he knows all it's nice to have something only you know."

Max grinned. "The last thing I expected was to see Allison. I had no idea where she went but I knew she was gone when the Christmas card Ma sent out got returned 'address undeliverable'… Ma wondered about her and how she is doing…"

Chase looked towards the door for a moment. "She sent Christmas letters to Cameron?" that surprised him. She never mentioned it.

"She sent one to them after meeting her at Easter… the year Brian died and she left… Ma tried to send it but it got returned. I guess that was just the straw that broke the camel's back…" Chase didn't know what to say. "Ma adored her… Alli was happy and cheerful and she liked Ma" Chase smiled, Cameron was definitely a 'people' person.

"How many cards did she send?" Chase asked, intrigued.

Max shrugged. "I don't know… I know after Easter, there was birthdays and Christmas…But I don't know how many cards they sent. I think they talked a lot… on the phone"

"Which is why leaving must have hurt her" Chase finished leaving the 'her' ambiguous on purpose, seeing both sides of it. Hell, he'd experienced both sides of it from his father and his own leaving his life in Australia. They sat in silence for a moment. Both men trying to think of the next question to ask.

* * *

As they moved on to Max's current history, he started scratching the bottoms of his feet. "Scratching at your feet?" Chase asked.

"They've gotten itchy… one of the nurses didn't think it was important" Max blinked and looked confused "Is it?"

"Can be" Cameron said from the doorway. She gave Chase a look of confusion because she didn't expect him and Max to be alone. But he shook his head and mouthed 'tell you later'. "Hey" she smiled at him. She had a few sandwiches in her hand, food for the rest of the team because they'd been working through lunch. "Blood draws are awful" She added, tiredly.

"I hear that" Max added and both doctors smiled at that.

"Unfortunately it seems there'll be more than a few more in both our futures" Cameron added.

Her fiancé glanced at the purple coflex bandages on each of her arms from the blood test. "Good news?"

She grinned. "So far." She then made a face and rubbed her arms with a sigh. "Med student. She tried three times to find my vein… even had to switch arms"

"Her first draw?" Chase frowned and Cameron shrugged.

"Felt like it" she sighed "I even offered to draw my blood myself." He watched her for a moment, amused "Next time you need to be poked." She laughed at the look on his face "They want to test you for some possible genetic things… they tested me but Lindy wanted to test you, too. Looks like we'll give lots of blood between us. Hopefully she improves by then" Chase smiled at that. Turning to Max she added. "Itchy feet could be a sign of worsening liver function"

"The nurse this morning told me lethargy could mean that too" Max added and Chase nodded.

"Maybe" Cameron said looking around the room again. "Chase." She said quickly getting his attention. "Urine bag… blood" He glanced at the catheter bag and went to the phone in the room to alert House while Cameron set the food on an empty chair and went to check his catheter and bag. Max tried to watch but he was confused as to what was going on.

"House? Cameron found Hematuria…" Chase spoke as the other doctor just laughed and he could hear the sarcasm through the phone.

"Cameron finally show up?" House laughed and Chase frowned. "You sure about the blood, wombat? Last we checked his liver was the problem, not kidneys. By the way, you and Preggers are being summoned for Ddx. You're both late so you owe us lunch."

Chase rolled his eyes but retorted "We'll be there in two minutes… with food… after a nurse checks Max." Chase added firmly, much to House's annoyance.

House scoffed and muttered "The fiancée's former sibling…" Chase just hung up and shook his head.


	9. Cat and Mouse

**AN- I don't own anything. References to Jaws, Stuart Little, Tom and Jerry, and the season two episode "All In" and season six "Knight Fall". The 'movie' Wilson and Chase are talking about came from a joking conversation my roommate and I had about what she would do about her thyroid medication if there was a national disaster and she couldn't get her medication. When I was babysitting the other day, I realized Hugh Laurie was the Dad in Stuart Little so I wanted to include a reference**

Chase and Cameron left Max with a nurse as they went to discuss differentials with the team. Chase grabbed his sandwich from Cameron and she handed Foreman his. Before Cameron could offer Thirteen hers the woman dug out some cash and tried to give it to Cameron. "This enough?"

Cameron laughed. "You don't need to pay. Someday you'll get lunch for all of us then you'll be even" she joked as she rubbed at one of her bandages on her forearm.

House studied her "Two bandages? What idiot tech blew the vein?"

Cameron shook her head as the other three 'ducklings' tried to hide their smirks. "I got the new girl because the phlebotomist was dealing with the woman afraid of needles…"

"Then why the hell was she pregnant?!" House snapped and Cameron stared at him. "Speaking of pregnant idiots… you two are engaged. Don't give me that look… you're not breaking up this time, right?" Chase groaned and Cameron glared at her boss.

"So Max?" Chase asked unwrapping his sandwich and taking a bite.

"Is still alive" House said and by the glares from his team that was not a welcome comment. "Eagle eyes noticed hematuria" House added, annoyed. "Your 'betrothal' is new and I want to talk about that…"

"Blood in the urine could be serious" Thirteen said, ignoring House.

"Could be—" Foreman glanced at the Whiteboard

"Not kidneys" Chase added. "Scans came back clear…"

"So no stones" Cameron frowned.

"Except for the one around your neck?" House asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Liver function is worsening… so are the kidneys…" Foreman answered, knowing the couple would rather not talk about their engagement.

"So what causes the liver and kidneys to not play nice?" House asked glancing at his team. He'd given up on trying to find out more about their engagement for the time being.

"The meds we've given don't seem to be working…" Foreman frowned.

"So what can we do?" Cameron asked.

"It's a long shot… but…" Thirteen shook her head and trailed off as the other looked at her curiously.

"Speak. Elaborate." House snapped.

"If his liver's shot… I know in India… don't they…?" She tried to remember what she'd read about.

"They don't take this long to talk about whatever it is" House snapped.

"What… try to feed him liver or something?" Foreman asked and Thirteen nodded. She thought it was a crazy idea but the others looked intrigued.

"Might help" Chase shrugged.

"Yuck!" House made a face. "Eating liver, giving it to a patient… expected better from actual real-life doctors…"

The other doctors ignored House's protest. "What?… liver's not actually that bad… if you don't know that you're eating it" Foreman muttered.

"I liked it" Chase shrugged and they stared at him. None of them knew he'd ever eaten liver.

"You knew you were eating it?" Thirteen looked at him dumbfounded.

"Yeah… it wasn't too bad. Pretty much haggis." He grinned as the others made faces.

"Haggis?" Cameron asked, staring at him. Chase grinned and nodded as she continued "Like organs and stuff? Blood pudding? You enjoyed it?" Chase nodded three times.

"That's renaissance fair food…all that ox testicles, cow brain, or my personal favorite, pig rectum, with a side order of sphincter." Thirteen said leaning towards Chase as he continued eating. To her disappointment he didn't even flinch.

"Pretty sure they call it breakfast in Australia" Foreman muttered with a smirk. Chase just took a bite from his sandwich because he knew they were baiting him.

Cameron made a face and shook her head quickly. "Grossed out? Feeling sick from our food talk?" House asked and she rolled her eyes.

"No, just wondering the relevance of Chase's eating habits" She retorted.

House shrugged. "He's eaten liver… which maybe we can feed to Max." House smirked as he glanced at Chase "So you've eaten liver…is there anything you haven't done?"

Chase smirked as he spoke "So there I was, swimming with a shark and…" Foreman and Cameron burst out laughing. Thirteen smiled knowing it was some joke. House didn't look amused.

"Without a cage, right?" Foreman teased.

"Cages are for tourists" Chase laughed.

Cameron grinned. "So you… punched the shark in the nose?"

Chase shrugged and grinned. House frowned "That line actually work? Did it get you laid?"

"Only with a bimbo" Foreman mumbled. "Or if he's in a suit…"

House smirked "So, Doctor Cameron, what does that make you?" Both Chase and Cameron glared at House and he smirked. "Okay, fine… but did you actually get to swim with Jaws?"

Chase laughed "Not a Great White… but I did swim with a shark… he wasn't very big, but he was kinda long" he smiled as he remembered that adventure over one of his spring breaks. "I got to pet the shark, too."

"Euphemism?" House said and Chase shook his head, trying not to laugh at how insistent his boss was being.

"I want to swim with a shark" "Me too" Foreman and Thirteen both started talking and Cameron joined in. "I want to go to the beach…" "Yes!"

"I'm sure we'd all like to swim with Chase and his long shark… not a euphemism" House added just as the door opened. Chase ignored all the talk.

"Enough about the hobbies of Doctor Chase" Cuddy said as she walked in. A majority of the team stared at her dumbstruck. How'd she know and why was she here?

House frowned. "I wouldn't so much say it's his hobby… I'm pretty sure his hobbies include Cameron" Cuddy frowned and he added suddenly "I need a liver"

"For your patient?" she glanced at him "I'll get a transplant team…" She said with a sigh.

"For him to eat…" House added seriously. Cuddy blinked. Surely, he must be joking.

"Cannibalism is unethical and highly discouraged at this hospital" Cuddy answered.

"Did I say it was going to be human?" Cuddy's jaw fell open and she gaped at House.

It took her only a few moments to compose herself. "And what does that mean?"

"Wombat, what should we feed Sweeney Todd?" He turned to Chase and seemed to ignore everyone else in the room. "Apparently you're our expect butcher"

"Sweeney Todd ate people" Foreman said, trying to follow the logic and remind him the others' opinions were important too. But Chase and House continued like he'd never spoken.

"Cow? Pig? Whatever…is easier, I guess" Chase shrugged. "Animal livers are used lots in meat pies… just cook it first… Raw meat is…" He shook his head and made a face.

"Yay, more fun down under" House said grinning as Chase rolled his eyes. "Cuddy can we feed him liver?"

"Why?" Cuddy glanced at him and the others.

"Meds aren't working… kidneys are failing, too" Foreman added. "He's close to liver falure…"

"So get a nephrologist… oh wait... which of us studied nephrology in med school, Neurologist?" House snapped. Cuddy glanced at House. "Why are you here? You normally don't come to me about scary sounding procedures… you make me beg in your office"

"I told her" Wilson added as walked in and saw the team debating. "Labs came back" he added holding a file.

"Not cancer" the four ducklings said at once. Wilson shook his head.

"Not according to my scan… but he should be tested for—"

"Chase is feeding him liver!" House announced and the team cringed. "Then dialysis"

Wilson glanced at Cuddy and she shrugged and mouthed 'House being House'. Wilson nodded. That was all he needed to know. Chase shrugged as he added "I wonder if that would actually work… I mean the other night I was channeling flipping and found a movie with zombies and some girl who had her thyroid removed. She couldn't have access to her thyroid pills due to the apocalypse so she started eating thyroids…" The others stared at him and Wilson laughed.

"I had a patient tell me about that movie, yesterday. Was it good?" Wilson grinned. "I had to explain that 'no, that's not how synthetic thyroid pills work'."

"I liked it well enough… the zombies were totally inaccurate..."

"Enough about the damn movie!" House said sharply. Everyone but Wilson and Chase snickered.

"Did you do a biopsy?" Cuddy asked, trying to bring the discussion back to the medicine.

"Of his liver?" House asked glancing at his team. Cuddy nodded and no response from the four. "No results yet on some of the other tests… but Wilson says we shouldn't do exploratory surgery."

"The Hospital Board would tend to frown on doing unnecessary surgery if the other preliminary tests were not done." Cuddy retorted.

"Environmental causes? How's his home?" House looked to Foreman and Chase.

They shared a glance and shrugged. "Fine…" "Nothing too harmful"

House raised an eyebrow. Cameron and Thirteen shared a look, highly intrigued as the look on Cuddy's face changed. "You broke into HIS HOUSE?!" Her voice rising in pitch with every word until she was screeching.

"Not this time" House said, knowing that would set her off. He grinned "Cameron got a key. Sometimes it's actually nice when one of my doctors married the dying guy's dead bro—" All of the others glared at House as Cuddy interrupted him.

"HOUSE!" Cuddy's voice was the most 'growly' that Thirteen had ever seen it.

"We were looking for any possible environmental causes…" House said dismissively. "What'd you two find?"

"Serratia marcescens in the bathroom grout… but it looked like he was trying to get rid of it" Foreman said.

"Bleach can cause some symptoms we've seen…" Thirteen added. Both Chase and Foreman shook their heads.

"Wasn't enough of it… but we did start him on Amikacin" Chase said. "Luckily, he seems to be responding. Want to limit the HAIs today…"

"He also had some chicken, pork, and hamburger meat in the fridge, right?" Foreman asked as Chase nodded.

"Shigella? Salmonella?Trichinosis **?** " Wilson suggested looking at the others. Foreman and Chase blinked and looked at each other guility

"And what were the results of this raw meat?" House asked, knowing they hadn't provided any of it to him.

Foreman and Chase winced and each looked at the other accusatory. "You didn't grab it?! I told you!" "You had the kitchen! I had the bathroom!" "No, you had the kitchen!"

"Argue about whose turn it was to take out the trash and other chores later" House snapped.

"You had the kitchen!" Foreman continued under his breath.

"I _was_ going through the fridge!" Chase retorted defensively.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You were until you panicked for no reason and had me do it" Foreman answered.

House looked at them curiously. Normally, Chase never shied away from any gathering evidence. "Wasn't for no reason. While digging around the fridge… pushed all the way in the back was a carton of long-forgotten moldy strawberries…" the Aussie mumbled under his breath quietly.

Cameron froze and House blinked. "You didn't touch them, did you?" House asked in his 'why is my team so stupid?' voice and Cameron glanced over her fiancé protectively.

"No!" Chase retorted in a 'what kind of idiot do you think I am?' tone. "Actually I didn't feel like spending last night in the ER so I got Foreman to deal with the fluffy white strawberries."

Wilson glanced at Cuddy. Thirteen and Foreman looked confused as they tried to understand. "You're allergic to strawberries?" Wilson asked. Chase nodded "How bad?"

"Not too bad" Chase shrugged. He didn't want to make a big deal out of it. House knew and Cuddy, of course. Cameron did, too, but they were the only ones. He had his Epi-Pen with him all the time so it didn't really matter that more people knew.

"Uh, yeah, bad" Cameron frowned. "Bad enough to not only need an epi-pen but you almost went into anaphylactic shock that freaked out your coworker her first day of work…"

"Your first week, actually" Chase corrected with a teasing smile that quickly disappeared when he saw that she wasn't smiling "But everything was fine…That's when I learned to listen to you and that you were always right" He tried to finish with an easy smile to joke but everyone else in the room seemed worried. "Nothing happened yesterday. I was careful once I realized he had strawberries…"

"Why didn't you say something?" Foreman asked. Chase shrugged. "I-I thought you were just avoiding work…"

"Nah, that's House" Chase joked, letting the other man know there were no hard feelings. Foreman grinned at that. They both received a glare from the man in question.

"Who cares whose job it was to check the fridge. There were no results or samples taken from any food, moldy or otherwise" House said as both of his male fellows studied the floor again.

"We were gonna grab it… but we got distracted by a rat" Foreman added sheepishly.

"A rat?" House repeated. Both nodded. House sighed. "And neither of you idiots thought to bring the rat as evidence or something?"

"We didn't think about it…" Chase said honestly. House brought his open hand up and Chase winced expecting a slap and House did smack the back of Foreman's head but left Chase alone.

"Hey! What about him? He also got distracted by the rat" Foreman protested. Cuddy, Wilson, Thirteen and Cameron all kept quiet. But both women were writing notes and trying to figure out any possible diagnoses they could get while the boys got in trouble.

"True. However he isn't trying to throw any coworker under the bus and he's got enough distraction on his mind with a pregnant fiancée…and—"

"Wait Fiancee?" Wilson looked up suddenly at the couple's good news.

"We've already gone over this" House shot his best friend a look as he waved his hand towards his fellows. "She's wearing a ring on her necklace and apparently has been all day"

"Mozel Tov!" Wilson said happily, ignoring House as Cameron and Chase laughed.

"Thanks" both of them smiled. House frowned as he glanced towards his boss. She hardly reacted to the news that two of her employees would be getting married…

"You told Cuddy before you told me?!" House wasn't happy about that.

"To be fair… they didn't really tell you…you badgered them until they gave up…" Foreman said and House shot him a look.

"When did you tell Cuddy?" House ignored everyone except for Chase and Cameron.

They shared a look "Wednesday?... Wednesday. Last week."

"What?!"

"We got engaged on Monday…last Monday…Tuesday was just for us… and so was most of Wednesday" Chase said.

Cameron nodded. "Just before heading home we told Cuddy and…"

"And you didn't tell me?"

"I'm their boss" Cuddy answered. House rolled his eyes.

"Get in line" House retorted. "I'm their boss that actually instructs them…"

"Does HR mean anything to you, House?"

"Hookers Right now?" He grinned. He frowned seeing Wilson and Thirteen talking amongst themselves "What are you two talking about?"

"Your case." Wilson said "So what is the relevance of the rat?"

"Could give us some insight as to what's wrong with Max" Foreman shrugged. "Like a toxin study or something"

"If Tweedledee and Tweedledumb brought it. But they didn't… We could have done an autopsy and checked liver cells…"

"Why do we have to catch it? Why can't we just get animal control?" Foreman asked.

"You think they'll be faster? He's already close to liver failure…" Chase pointed out.

"You two, bring me Stuart Little. You messed up. You fix it" House ordered.

"What if it had rabies?" Foreman asked, nervous.

House rolled his eyes "Then you'll be inoculated. Crazy homeless woman provides enough Rabies protection that a rat bite shouldn't kill you."

"Wait what?" Thirteen blinked as Foreman glared at House.

"You keep up!" House answered his newest employee. "We don't have time to fill you in on all the times Foreman almost died!"

"If there's any chance of rabies… I'm out. Not going through that again" Foreman answered. "Those shots were awful…"

"Much better than rabies" Chase pointed out as he went back to his sandwich.

House scoffed. "Whatever, just bring me Stuart Little. I need a friend since Steve died…"

"Your rat died?" Cameron asked looking at him. She would have thought he would have told them when his pet died. "When?"

"What?" Thirteen blinked in shock. Just last week, House had mentioned all the diseases rodents can carry.

"He has a rat" Foreman shrugged. It wasn't important to him so he didn't really care.

"He has a _rat_?" Thirteen asked, trying to understand what was going on.

"He had a rat" Chase confirmed.

"He _had_ a rat?" Thirteen repeated.

"He just said his rat died" Cameron pointed out.

"If you're just going to repeat everything maybe I should fire you…Forget about my dead rat! Bring me the live one. Maybe we can use that to diagnose Max… rat sharing the space anything could tell us what's toxic to Mousekowitz might be toxic to humans…" House said dismissing Foreman and Chase "Bring me back the rat… any food from the fridge won't be helpful now…"

"Liver biopsy before anything else." Cuddy said as the two guys left the room.

"But if we do a biopsy on the rat shouldn't we just do an autopsy? I mean rats are tiny…" House asked, despite knowing exactly what she meant.

"A biopsy on your patient" Cuddy said firmly. House sighed dramatically.

"Cameron, Thirteen, prep him for that, will ya? Maybe by then Tom and Jerry will have returned…"

"Tom's the cat" Wilson laughed, "And I'm pretty sure Jerry's the mouse not a rat".

"Bite me" House retorted. "Cuddy please leave, my team has a lot of work left to do…"

She gave House a stern look and headed back to her office. Cameron and Thirteen went back to see Max and prep him for the biopsy. House and Wilson didn't move and instead continued eating lunch and talking about House's team.


	10. The Past Makes You Who You Are

**AN- Back to the apartment and some memories. I don't own House MD or any of the characters, though I wish House and his team were real. I had some unexpected medical stuff going on in my real life so I had to put the story on hold. I apologize for going AWOL** **I had some computer issues where I lost this chapter after I had finished it and I lost some inspiration due to the missing files. I'm back now and to make it up to you guys, I uploaded two chapters at once. Enough excuses and on to the story:**

"So how was Mouse Hunting?" Cameron asked as they walked in to their apartment.

Her fiancé groaned and set down the bag with their stuff "All I can say is I'm very glad we have a cat."

"Meow!" Came Debbie's response and both humans laughed and stroked her.

"Gotta earn your keep, cat" Chase answered to the cat. "You wanna eat, you do your share…"

"You think we have mice… or rats?" Cameron asked raising her eyebrow.

"Never said that" Chase laughed. "She must be doing her job, then" He teased before kissing Cameron.

She rolled her eyes but smiled. "So you want to explain the strawberry thing to me again?" She was worried about him.

He let out a very dramatic groan. "I'm allergic to strawberries… didn't you know that?" He added quietly, as though tying to joke.

"Very funny" Came her retort, though by the look in her eyes and the tone in voice she was anything but amused. "Try again, babe"

He sighed. "Already told all that there is to tell. Strawberries are a typical fridge item in most homes, babe. Maybe not ours, but most other people have 'em" He reminded her with a laugh. "But yeah Foreman and I got the rat…No rabies"

Cameron scoffed "Can't believe he willingly tried to capture the rat… I mean all the complaining he did about never going through the rabies shots again…"

"Well he's afraid of rats, my vice is strawberries" Chase answered. His fiancée rolled her eyes but laughed. "You okay?" He studied her and she pulled away. She didn't answer, instead petting the cat. "Cameron?" He repeated and slowly she shook her head.

"'Do I look like a doctor to you?'" She glared at one of the cat toys sitting on the floor. Chase opened his mouth but quickly closed it. He didn't know what to say and figured any question he asked would not be welcome. "I can't believe I said that! Why did I say that?" She sighed as Chase ran his fingers through her hair and she laid her head on his chest

"A conversation that happened before? With Max…and Brian?" Chase whispered.

"Yeah… I wasn't thinking and…"

"It's okay. House didn't hear…"

"But you did" Cameron looked up at him. Her brown eyes met his blue eyes.

He laughed a moment, and she blinked worried he was uncomfortable. "Babe, I know you were married before." He added with a smile, seeing her relax. "We've talked about Brian" she nodded. "Come on, you need a day where you're not stuck in your head."

"Until he's not our patient anymore we'll see Max every day" Cameron answered. "But hopefully whatever happens with that stupid rat will give us answer". Chase nodded and kissed her. They were laughing together.

"We've got the ultrasound in a few weeks, right?" Chase kissed her then put a hand on her small bump. She laughed and nodded, returning the kiss.

* * *

Her words replayed in her mind as she lay awake, listening to Robert asleep beside her. "Can you get them to spring me?" Max asked and she just laughed.

"Do I look like a doctor to you?" came her teasing reply, before she could even stop herself. Max had laughed for the first time in a long time and so had Cameron.

"Can you get them to spring me?" and yet… suddenly it wasn't Max asking the question anymore.

"Can you get them to spring me?" Brian asked softly looking at the brunette that was sitting so close to him, she was nearly in the hospital bed. "Just for like one day? One afternoon? The park… please?" He wanted to be anywhere but here, as much as she did too… this was where he needed to be.

"Does she look like a doctor to you?" Max laughed.

"Course not… she's much too pretty to be a doctor" he coughed and the brunette smiled and took his hand.

"So I'm not pretty?" the redheaded doctor said looking at his patient.

"I-I didn't say that Doc…" Brian said, tripping over his words, despite knowing the man was just teasing him. "Just that she's the prettiest person I know… no offense" he laughed, but his laugh quickly turned to coughing. "Damnit" he managed through the coughing.

"Easy, easy…" the brunette said stroking his hand and once he coughing ceased the young man calmed down. Immediately when the coughing fit started, the doctor had his stethoscope out listening.

The doctor frowned slightly. "Might need to adjust your tubes, Brian"

"No" he frowned "Not getting anything shoved down my throat again. This tube thing in my nose is bad enough…"

"Brian…"

"Alli, look at me! I'm connected to more wires than a power strip…I just want one day out of here… but I don't think I'll be able to leave this hospital unless it's in a body bag"

"Brian!"

"It's true…" the broken man said. He glanced towards his brother and his head eventually felt heavy. He was growing weaker now. Even talking was exhausting. His eyes closed and his guests let him sleep as they talked to the doctor outside, in the hallway.

"Is there anything…?" the blonde woman looked fearfully at the doctor. Her eyes brimming with tears that were threatening to fall.

"His organs are shutting down." The doctor said. "He's ineligible for a transplant but we've got him started on dialysis for his kidneys. According to the most recent tests, Brian's liver is shutting down…"

"What's the liver do?" Allison asked "Can they give him treatment for his liver?" The twenty-one-year-old was curious and wishing there was anything she could do to help her husband. She had been studying the organs when he slept, trying to figure out if there was something she could do.

"The liver is basically the garbage man of the body. Filters out toxins…"

"But you said the gallbladder does that?" Max frowned.

"There are many organs that filter toxins: gallbladder, kidneys, liver…" The doctor spoke and was soon interrupted by the dying man's wife.

"How long?" Allison whispered. Her brother-in-law put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Alli…" Max said softly as the doctor looked at them both.

"Alli…Alli…Alli" Allison Cameron bolted awake at the touch. Her eyes were wild for a moment and she looked around desperately. She wasn't in a hallway. She wasn't in a hospital… she was in a bed. A bed at home…Someone was shaking her arm gently, trying to wake her up.

"Brian?" She blinked as her sleepy eyes were unfocused in the dark.

"No…Robert…" her fiancé said and even in the dark he could tell she felt so guilty and looked so broken. "You were dreaming…" he said softly. "A nightmare?"

Allison Cameron stared at him and blinked back tears. "I-I…" She looked around and wiped her eyes. Chase squeezed her hand.

"D-do you want to talk?" Chase asked hesitantly. He looked at her in the darkness and put an arm around her.

"I…I…just before he died… maybe a few weeks? I asked what the liver did and…" she shook her head. Chase kissed her forehead. "Too pretty to be a doctor… too pretty… everyone says…" she sniffled loudly as he enveloped her in a hug. His mind when back to when House first hired her, and he called her beautiful. The look she gave him: if looks could kill, he'd have died right there in the diagnostics room.

"Babe…"

"Max… Max knew or heard or… he said it… you weren't there… I wasn't there… but House and Thirteen were… Thirteen said Max compared the liver to a garbage man and House went…" She sniffled

"House went all House?" Chase asked and Cameron nodded. "If you don't want…"

"I loved him" she whispered, cutting him off. "No. Tha-that's a lie… I love him…I never stopped…" Chase blinked, not saying anything. He kept his thoughts to himself, not entirely sure who she was talking about any more. "I love Brian. I always will… but I'll always love you…" Allison added.

That was when Chase did something that surprised her. Even more than being willing to become 'coworkers with benefits', even more than giving their relationship a shot, hell, even more than him proposing. "Tell me about him" Chase wrapped his arms around her and laid his chin on her hair.

Cameron blinked., trying to read his voice. But there was no judgement, no insincerity. He seemed genuinely curious in the man who had once called her his wife. She smiled. "He was nothing like you." She began and he gave an uncomfortable sort of half-laugh, as though trying to decide whether she was teasing him. That was when she did laugh. "Okay, that was mean…. He was tall and had dark hair… no accent…" He smiled at that. "We were in class together… I just kinda sorta… he asked me out. I refused, he was stubborn and idiotic and he made me laugh. He liked to sing… stupid little songs that'd I'd hum. He didn't know any of the words so he made them up" She giggled. "He admitted he had cancer after we'd been dating for a few months." She said softly. Chase stayed quiet, just letting her talk. "I always wanted a pet…but he couldn't… he was too sick… He kept telling me I'd find someone who'd let me have all the pets and children I wanted…" Chase grinned and kissed her. "Like I'm sure you gathered from Max's history… they were both super outdoorsy… camping, hiking…" She shook her head and smiled a little. "He was stubborn… and wasn't afraid to take no for an answer… he was very self-assured and he hated losing control, hated having to rely on someone else…"

"Like you…" Chase whispered and Alli blinked. She smiled and nodded. He listened to her talk about her first husband and he could tell it helped her, not to keep these things bottled up inside like she'd done for so long.

* * *

Just before sunrise she turned the tables and asked him about his family and Chase told her bits of growing up. He wasn't telling her everything because he couldn't… but she had never heard him talk about his dad since Chase found out he died. She could count their conversations about his family on one hand, she lost count of how often they'd talked about her family. Tonight, he told how when his Dad would allow him to observe in the clinic and he got to meet some patients. He mentioned some of his favorite encounters. "You did not!" Allison Cameron said loudly, giggling as her fiancé nodded.

Chase smirked "I did…And let me tell you she was nothing like Sandy…"

"Shut up!" She giggled, playfully. "Oh my god. You did not meet Olivia Newton-John!" Chase just grinned. "I always wanted to meet her! Do you think she remembers you?"

"Doubt it… if anything, she'd remember my dad and even then I'd be surprised. She probably thought I was some dorky annoying kid…" Chase grinned. "Dad had loads of patients that to me didn't really seem all that great… I mean, yeah some were famous or whatever… but they were just Dad's patients…looking back I was really lucky, I guess… getting to be around all those idols and famous people…"

Alli laughed. "So you didn't ask for anyone's autograph?"

Chase smirked "I did when I was nine… can't even remember who now… but I remember dad was furious…though that may have had more to do with me showin' off…That was one of the last times I went with him to work… I mean sure there were occasional times after… but before that it was like once a week…he and mum split… and that put an end to that. Before the split, he'd let me hang out in his office or the waiting room or behind the counter with a book… Most of the time I'd stay home with Mum…He took me to cricket all the time as a kid… looking back now it was to make up for all the time he spent working." He was quiet for a moment and stroked her belly. "I'm going to be a better dad than he was." She kissed him and he smiled.

"I know you will, babe." Cameron smiled as he deepened the kiss.

Chase wrapped his arms around her "We can call in sick today, babe… you need the sleep" Chase smiled. "We stayed up most of the night talking…"

Cameron grinned devilishly. "Sleeping the day away?" She laughed. "Well if we are going to have a day off… let's make it worth it?" She kissed him and Chase deepened the kiss, pulling her closer.


	11. You Really Want to Know?

**AN- I don't own anything you recognize. House MD is a great show that isn't mine, unfortunately, and never will be. This is the end of Max's Arc, though he may come around in the future.**

It took a few days for the results of Max's liver biopsy to come back, but they were able to start him on a temporary liver detoxification to prevent liver failure. Cameron had been quick to reassure him that the liver will eventually heal itself. "That's one of the good reasons we caught it quickly" she had added with a smile. The dialysis was working like it should.

The team was sitting in the Diagnostics Room to talk about the results before giving them to Max. "Cirrhosis is present… but not bad enough that he needs a new liver." House began reading the results.

"We knew that from the biopsy" Thirteen said. "We definitely saw some scarring, not bad enough, yet, that the damage is completely irreversible"

"His liver function is already slowly starting to improve" Chase added.

"Yeah but until we know what caused it…" Cameron pointed out. Chase glanced at her and put a hand on hers.

"Good news! Ratty McRatterson's results came back…" House said. "And so did our human patient… No Hantavirus…but they both had a little bit of Lepto…"

"So what's killing Max?" Foreman asked

House glanced at the board. "Faulty genetics…"

"FAULTY GENET..!" Chase frowned. "What does that mean?"

"Gilbert's disease…" House continued reading aloud. "Is negative… though, Max seems to have slight symptoms… probably in conjunction with what he has…"

"Which is?" Thirteen demanded.

"Touché" House said. "Black liver…increased amount of bilirubin… Come on? None of you know?" He sighed and slid the paper to Cameron. Chase and Foreman looked over her shoulder.

"Dubin Johnson! Normally that doesn't affect people like…"

"He's got Lepto from his rat roommate. The stress probably caused the spike and the jaundice." Chase pointed out. Foreman and Chase read through the rest of the results as Cameron turned towards House.

"D-did Brian?" Cameron's voice was soft as she studied her boss.

"Cancer typically pulls rank" House said to Cameron and she blinked.

Cameron frowned. "So you're saying his cancer saved his life?! His cancer is what killed him!" Her eyes were dangerous and Chase, Thirteen, and Foreman stayed quiet. Chase squeezed her hand gently.

"No…" House said as though she was just a stupid child "Dubin-Johnson typically presents in early adulthood… when he was in treatment for thyroid cancer. Probably didn't even know he had it… with all the other issues…"

"They didn't do an autopsy" Cameron whispered. The days after were hazy… the months after his death were hazy but she knew no autopsy was done.

"Of course not. No need to determine what killed him… though probably would have been helpful… or not." House shrugged.

"Stop" Chase said with a frown. Foreman glared at House.

"What? His organs were likely fried… they likely wouldn't have found it… even if he had it. Doesn't matter…"

"But you think Brian's got it?" Thirteen asked.

"Don't think. We know" Foreman added, looking at the paperwork again.

"I'm not telling him!" House said and the others frowned. "Who drew the short straw?"

* * *

Max looked up in confusion when he had the whole team around him. That meant something bad. Chase seemed to notice the look in his eyes so he spoke first. "Results" Chase smiled and Max looked at him.

"Good news?" Max asked hopefully and Alli smiled.

"We know what made you sick… and we know how to make you better…" Cameron began "You have what is called Dubin-Johnson..."

"That sounds made up…" Max interrupted.

House frowned "If you interrupt my doctors, you won't get better…" The other doctors frowned at their boss.

"Dubin-Johnson…" Thirteen continued quickly. "It's rare which is why nobody knew how to diagnose you. When you're under stress your liver began metabolizing differently. This caused the jaundice and your other symptoms."

Max nodded and looked at all the doctors. "Typically Dubin-Johnson Syndrome is asymptomatic" Chase added. "Though it is genetic. Your parents are likely carriers…"

"So what? I call Ma and tell her to make sure she gets my sister tested? And her kids?" Max frowned.

"If they don't want to have the same symptoms you do." House said simply.

Cameron gave him a look before turning to Max. "They can get tested easily, now that we know what to look for"

"You want my family to fly out here?! If you thought seeing me was bad…you know my family will be worse" Max answered and Cameron blinked, quickly shaking her head. The only expression Foreman could think to describe her face was 'deer in the headlights'.

"No… just a blood test. They can get it done anywhere…"

* * *

"Yeah… No! You are not telling them. Suz! You know what they're like! I don't…" Max groaned and Cameron looked at him curiously. He was on the phone and the more Cameron listened to the conversation, she determined it was to her former sister-in-law. "You tell them, they'll just panic. It was just some routine stuff…" Max lied. "Yeah… I'm fine. No worries. Please, just… yeah. Thanks. Al-the doctors… the doctors want you to get tested." He glanced at Cameron "Do our parents?"

"I see no need… unless they start to show symptoms… carriers typically don't even show symptoms so…"

That was all he needed to hear. "No. They're fine. But you do… It's genetic… Your boys too… and Jake… yeah, just in case. That's different…Suz…" his voice softened "I don't know… It doesn't matter…" he sighed. "Please don't worry them. With him… no. I'm fine. They tell me I'm going to live a long time." He laughed. "Yeah. Okay. See you at Thanksgiving. You'll have to tell me what pre-teen boys want for Christmas…" He said with a laugh as he hung up the phone.

"You lied to her…" Cameron said looking at him. He would be released from the hospital in about a week.

"Did I?"

"You said your doctors… you didn't say me." She looked at his eyes for the first time in quite a while.

Max shrugged. "I didn't know what to say. Besides, you're not the girl who left… you're different" He shrugged.

Cameron was quiet. They were all different since then. "In another life, I'd have known her and her sons… I'd have to be tested myself… I'd…"

"In another life, you wouldn't be a doctor and I would still be sick" Max pointed out. "Besides, they don't need to know who I ran into in New Jersey."

"Thank you…for not telling them…" Cameron said softly. "I didn't want to hurt them…"

Max didn't say anything as he took a breath. "Everyone gets hurt when someone dies." He said quietly as he gathered his thoughts "Did you miss us?"

"Did you miss me?" Cameron asked, turning her back so she wouldn't see his response.

"What happens now?" Max asked to her back, hearing her sigh.

"In a few days, you'll go home." Cameron said simply. Max opened his mouth to ask a different question but she kept talking. "Your liver should regenerate in a few months… a year at the most. Your kidneys will need some close monitoring… but you probably won't need dialysis" Max smiled at that "You'll likely have to avoid alcohol until then… likely for life. A glass might be okay, every now and then…but no binging. Your liver wouldn't be able to handle it. Take care of your kidneys… but you should make a full recovery."

"As long as you don't have any more uninvited houseguests" Chase added and Cameron laughed. "Thirteen was looking for you. Something downstairs… clinic duty." Cameron laughed and disappeared. Max smiled and watched her go. He met Chase's eyes.

"Do you think she'll be upset if I give Ma your address, Doctor Chase?" Max asked softly and Chase shrugged.

"You've got it so do what you think is right. Ignore most of what House says" Chase said simply.

"Ignore your boss?" Max asked, not understanding.

"Listen to him on the medicine… but he likes to give a little more sarcasm than any other doctor I've ever known." Chase laughed.

Max smiled "How long have you worked for him? You respect him."

"House saves lives" Chase said, before changing the subject "Your liver function is improving."

"Have you guys had patients that die?" Max pressed. Maybe it was absurd to ask that after the doctors had told him he'd be fine… but Max still had those questions.

"Every doctor has patients that die" Chase said, turning away. Max heard his sigh. He had to ask the question that had been turning in his brain since he'd found out about his genetic disease.

"You said it's Dubin-Johnson…My sister is getting her kids tested… could it have saved my brother?"

"I-I'm not the right person…." Chase muttered.

"But you're a doctor?" Max frowned. "Just give me your best guess… I know it won't change anything…"

"Then why ask?" Chase frowned. "Do you really want to know the answer? Trust me, sometimes you don't… when there is nothing you can do… sometimes it's better not to wonder… to blame yourself for not catching it in time…"

Max stayed quiet and a few minutes later he began speaking again. "The other doctor… Foreman?" Chase nodded as Max continued "He was checking my meds last night… He said your boss is upset?"

Chase snorted "House doesn't like change… Between me and Alli-Cameron. Between me and Cameron…" He shook his head. At work she was Cameron. "And the baby…and now Foreman and Thirteen…" Chase shook his head. "House doesn't like change." Max laughed. He could tell how stubborn the man was. "Good news is you won't have to deal with the grouch much longer…"

"Thank you, Doctor Chase" Max said and Chase raised an eyebrow but he didn't comment. Chase smiled and nodded.


	12. What If?

**AN- I had the idea for this chapter since I first started this fanfic. I just thought Cameron would be very cautious regarding all the risks and potential hazards they've worked with. I'm not entirely sure I like how it penned out from what I had in my head… but I like it well enough. I love Chase and his backstory, so I hope I did it justice. As always nothing is mine and it never will be.**

It's never a good day when you lose a patient. Especially when you send the patient to surgery and you thought the surgery would help you better diagnose them. When the surgeon tells you they ran into unexpected complications and all you can do now is preform an autopsy. Today was one of those days. Emotions were already running high in the diagnostics department so when Chase and Cameron were talking in the hallway things just bubbled over.

"Don't worry…" He was trying to reassure her because she'd been terrified from all the information she'd found concerning their baby.

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare tell me everything is going to be fine!"

"Alli-"

"No!" She pulled away. "What if something's wrong…we didn't find out until…"

"Babe! We found out… you've gone to the scans and stuff… that's all you can do…" Chase tried to comfort her.

"They thought everything was fine with Kalia! And her heart stopped during surgery!" Cameron snapped and Chase just looked at his pregnant fiancée.

"That's different…" Chase mumbled, but he couldn't really explain why. "You're healthy…"

"But all the chemicals and medications…stuff that would still be in my system from before pregnancy…"

"We have the same job… Whatever affects you would affect me" Chase said. She looked like she was going to cry.

"Oh great!" She pulled away, wiping her eyes. That was twice the risk to their unborn baby…

"Hey! Tha-that's not what I meant… I just meant that… working for House has gotten your mind into what could go wrong…" He said carefully. "You are obsessing over and… is there a chance something can go wrong? Yeah…" He said and quickly continued when she opened her mouth. "Lots of doctors have healthy babies…"

"But our cases…We're not normal doctors!"

"We take proper precautions… mostly…" Chase said and he took her hand "Especially now that you're pregnant… there's a reason you don't do the x-rays or the MRIs or…"

She was quiet, considering his words. "But what if…?" She whispered.

"What if?" Chase said looking at her. "A thousand what ifs could happen! What if everything is fine? What if it's not?" He was annoyed and exhausted and frustrated. He hadn't meant to yell but he thought she was just being paranoid. "Worrying about all the 'what ifs' is absolutely freaking crazy! What if I die tomorrow?" He yelled and by the look in her eyes that was the worst thing he could have said. "I-I.."

"DON'T SAY THAT!" She cried and pulled away. He reached for her hand but she jerked away so suddenly.

He just watched her go. There was nothing he could say to take away what he said. He groaned and yelled in frustration. He felt like the worst fiancé in the world as he shook his head.

"Doctor Chase?" Maya, one of the triage nurses asked. He stared at her. She was walking by when she heard him yell and slap his legs in frustration. "Y-you okay?" He could have laughed at the absurdity of her question but he just sighed.

"Just…been one of those days…" She nodded. He felt like she was analyzing him as she eyed him. "Did you see where Doctor Cameron went?" He asked

"No… sorry…" The nurse shook her head "She's pregnant, right?" Chase looked at her dully and nodded. "Just let her be… hormones are…" the woman grinned. "My husband called me loca… he still does and our girls are three…" Chase stared at her. "Just let her be… don't try to pressure her anything… even if you're not… we are irrational beings, pregnant women, and just you being rational and logical is pressure…" She said simply. He looked at her. "Plus…today… your patient… All the nurses are talking… I'm sure that didn't help her fears…"

"I gotta go… but thanks…" Chase said, not really in the mood to talk to anyone. Much less hear about how it was all his fault.

* * *

Foreman found Chase at the staircase. "I screwed up…" Chase mumbled.

"You didn't do the surgery…" Foreman said. Chase gave him a look and Foreman took a step back.

"No… with Cameron… I…"

"Speaking of her… how is she? After… the… I just… wanted to… where is she?"

"Don't ask," Chase said. "We're in a fight… I think… I'm pretty sure… It's my fault…"

Foreman looked at the blonde, trying to figure him out. He laughed. "Well that's women… you think you're in a fight, you're in a fight. You think you're not in a fight… you're in a fight…" He seemed amused.

"Oh, like you're the expert?" Chase frowned. "Your longest relationship was with a nurse you broke up with on Valentine's Day!"

"Do you want advice or not, mopey?" Foreman frowned and Chase sighed. "What'd you say?"

"The truth… she was freaked out by everything that could go wrong…"

"Because of Kalia…?" Foreman asked and Chase frowned as he continued, not wanting to rehash it with Foreman.

"I told her it was no use worrying about things you can't change… things that may not even happen… like if I were to unexpectedly die tomorrow…"

"Damn, you screwed up," Foreman said, trying unsuccessfully to hid his laugh. Chase shot him a glare and Foreman looked at him. "Let me try this another way… She did have someone die suddenly…Although cancer isn't as sudden as… 'a traffic accident'" Foreman smirked "But she did have it all…and then it was ripped away from her." He finished. Chase blinked as he sighed.

"Today kinda freaked her out." He agreed. They hadn't really been able to talk much about the baby lately. "I hate you, you know that?"

Foreman laughed "Now come on, House sent me to find you guys and we're already missing Cameron."

* * *

The brunette's absence did not go unnoticed. "And then what about… where is she?" He turned from where he and Thirteen were in a very loud discussion.

"No idea…" Chase said, honestly.

House frowned "You lost her?" He smirked

"I didn't-" Chase snapped and Foreman cut in.

"Found Chase. Cameron's on her lunch break" He lied. House sighed, not believing it but not going to question it.

"Someone screwed up. Marks blames us." House said looking at the surgeon's report. "What happened?" That was when his team all started at once.

"Probably something during surgery… she was… stable in our hands…"

"Decliningly stable but stable."

"Marks's guy probably gave her too much anesthesia."

"Who did our tests?"

"I did the ultrasound and everything looked okay…"

"I did the angiogram…" Chase admitted.

"You see anything?" House frowned, picking up his ball.

"Nothing… didn't see anything…."

"Well that's the problem! For angios you're supposed to see arteries and veins…" House frowned.

Chase glared at him. "I did! I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Everything looked normal."

"Are you sure?" House frowned. "You just said—"

"You don't trust Chase?" Foreman noted amusement on Thirteen's face.

"Everyone screws up! Chase included!" House retorted.

"You're all acting like children…" Cameron spoke as she entered the room. House glanced towards her.

"Nice of you to show up…" He said, noticing her face was red like she'd been crying. The wombat wouldn't meether eyes, and her choice in where to sit caught her boss's attention. "Interesting… you're sitting as far away from Chase as you possibly can while still being in the same room as the rest of the team."

Cameron rolled her eyes. "Only you would find that interesting…"

"Normally you're in his lap." House smirked. "Did you guys have a fight?"

"No!" Both halves of the couple were quick to deny any fight. They didn't even really think it was a fight… just a misunderstanding.

House sighed. "Normally I'd take the fact that was a double negative and run with it… but Cuddy wants us to figure out why our patient died. Let the interrogations begin after we have cause of death."

"Just let autopsy take care of it…" Chase said. "That's their job…"

"Well, we don't have a patient. Foreman. You tell her family that she's dead… Cameron, Chase" House just seemed to look past them. "Thirteen, tomorrow, you get me that autopsy report." Chase looked at Cameron, once they were left alone.

"Can we talk?" She whispered, twisting her engagement ring around her neck. He looked up and caught her watching him. She felt guilty over her irrationality.

He nodded "Where do you want to go?" He asked, but she had already started walking towards the stairs. He followed quickly.

* * *

"So you were right…" Chase said tentatively. They were sitting on the benches outside, just to get some fresh air and talk.

She shook her head "I was insane…" Cameron looked at him. "I know I was… you know how I acted was crazy…"

He grinned "No matter how I respond it'll be the wrong thing to say," He laughed and she did, too. "But I get it…"

She nodded, reaching for his hand. "Just the thought of… losing you. I couldn't- couldn't imagine losing you. I don't want to have to face every day if you're not there, babe." She said. "Just the thought of you dying…. And missing…"

"Me missing this?" Chase asked, stroking her belly. She laughed, feeling the fluttering inside her.

"Missing me acting hormonal and insane… and-"

"The absolute without-a-doubt best mother in the entire world." Chase said, kissing her cheek as she blushes. He could see how far she would go for their baby already.

"This kid'll be lucky to have you… the best father anyone could ever ask for." She said in response.

"We okay?" Chase asked, swinging her hand in his.

She laughed. "Of course, you idiot." She couldn't hide her giggles as he pulled her close.

"That's a very House-thing to say," Chase teased and kissed her deeply as the wind blew around them.

She sighed and looked towards the ground for a moment. "Yeah… it affected me… watching him dying a little bit every day… I just couldn't… not you… I can't think about you dying…" Chase just kissed her ponytail and pulled her close.

"Babe, I'm not planning on dying for a long time…" Chase added.

"Good…" Cameron said, wrapping his arm around her as they headed to the car.

"You know these mood swings are killer, babe," Chase teased as he kissed her cheek.

"Just be grateful you're not the crazy one, babe." She answered, squeezing his hand.

* * *

"After… we… talked…" Cameron said softly, Chase looked at her curiously. They were laying on the couch, in each other's arms. "B-before I came back into diagnostics…" Chase nodded, letting her talk. "I went into NICU… just to… just to look at the babies…"

Chase grinned "Can you believe in like twenty-four weeks, we'll hold our baby in our arms? That'll be us…Perfectly healthy, little baby…" He smiled and she laid his head on his chest. "But you were saying something about…"

She sighed and nodded, as he wrapped his arms around her. "One of the babies… was going through detox… FAS, the nurse told me… the poor thing… Can you just imagine? What kind of mother would put her child through something like that?" Cameron said, stroking his hair.

"Mine." Chase's voice was barely a whisper and she wasn't sure she'd heard him right.

"Y-your?" She looked startled and afraid. Her head immediately lifted to look him in the eyes. He hated how she seemed to be studying him.

He gave a sort of awkward laugh/scoff. "As long as I can remember… Mum would drink…"

"You said she had a few drinks a week when you were older… that's not…"

"A few drinks a day. Mum was an alcoholic. No matter whose definition you use." Chase said. "She drank… a lot… she was an alcoholic… I hated it. I hated her… Grew up much too young to a mother that couldn't take care of herself… I had to take care of her, take care of the house… the life…" He shook his head.

"H-how long?" She whispered as he sighed. Too long.

"Dad tried… I guess? Hell, I don't even know… he walked out. They split. You knew that, at least." He said, continuing when he saw her nod. "I don't know how much he knew… but she got worse when he left… growing up… I was a monster as a teen… I'd skip classes, steal booze, get drunk with my friends, get in fights… I thought it would help… but by then she was too far gone… And just try taking that bottle away…" He snorted in annoyance at the memories. "At least bruises fade… I could easily claim sports injuries…hell, I fought plenty enough at school so I could have always said…"

"She hit you?!" Cameron was outraged. She immediately began burying her face in his chest, at the look that crossed his face. It was all the confirmation she needed. She was incredibly protective of the blonde doctor and couldn't even fathom the fact that his mother could harm her son.

"Babe," Chase stroked her hair. "It's okay. I'm okay… it was a long time ago…" But he never really got over it, Cameron realized. "She died and then that was it… I left…"

"Robert…"

"She was an angry drunk…" He said softly. "And Dad was no help. I spent most of my time taking care of her… making sure she didn't suffocate in her own vomit at night that I couldn't have cared less about school and grades…" He shook his head. "Spent weekends with Dad…or was supposed to. Mum would often lock me away in his study to go drink… then it never really stopped. Dad was always working… all the damn time. He was married to his work… she was drowning in that bottle…both addicted to their demons…They didn't really care about me at all…" He looked at Cameron suddenly and gently stroked her belly, smiling at the fluttering he felt. "I don't wanna be like that… That's not the dad I want for our kid…"

"You won't…" She was quick to reassure him and she squeezed his hand with love. "You love being a doctor… but I see how you are, already. You're gonna love this kid so much…" She kissed him and he smiled, relieved at the confidence she had in him. "I promise." She whispered.

She saw the shadow of doubt cross his eyes and she hated that even now, years after his parents' deaths he was still scarred. She kissed his neck.

She hadn't known much about his past, but she figured he had some bad experiences with alcohol growing up. Just the way, he wouldn't drink or he'd avoid it. He'd also refuse Foreman's offers of going out after a case. She never really thought he was struggling with his sobriety either… although Wilson had showed her Chase's file once. He had all the signs but she just didn't want to believe it. "You're not your mother… or your father" She whispered, kissing him. "You are going to be an amazing father…"

That was when he asked the question that broke her heart. "Why are you so sure?"

"I see how you are with our patients… the babies in hospital… with Rachel when Cuddy brings her by…" He relaxed at that, talking about his past made all his old fears come to the surface. "Maybe we ask Cuddy if she can let us have some practice parenting?"

Chase laughed "You honestly think she'll let us babysit her toddler?" That little girl was spoiled rotten by Cuddy.

Cameron giggled. "We are doctors… besides it's not like she'll ever let House babysit…" Chase laughed and wrapped his arms around her.


	13. Not Mad

**AN- None of the characters are mine. I'm not trying to offend anyone with the dialogue, if I do: I am sorry. I just figured it would be consistent with House's character. It isn't the first-time House crashed an appointment as he did in the show. All references to Skin Deep (Season 2, Episode 13) belongs to the House MD creators. It has been a bit of a time skip since the last chapter, so to orient the timeline: This chapter takes place a few days into the twentieth week of pregnancy and a few days before Thanksgiving.**

"And there is your baby." The tech said smiling at the couple, as she pointed to the screen.

"Woah!" Chase said, looking at the screen. He squeezed Cameron's hand.

Cameron laughed. "That's kinda freaky…"

"Our baby… It looks kinda like a little alien…" Her fiancé agreed. She knew he was just teasing, but she still frowned.

"Does not!" She laughed and the tech smiled, moving the wand around.

"That's normal in this stage of development. I promise you won't deliver an alien. Your baby will be 100% human." She assured them. "Everything seems to be measuring right on schedule…"

"Strong heartbeat!" Cameron grinned, relieved.

Chase laughed. "Told you no need to worry, babe." He joked and she laughed. He knew her all too well.

Cameron blushed and looked at the screen. "It's weird being on this side of the wand." She added softly as the tech laughed.

"And are you curious about the sex?" The tech asked, looking towards the couple. She had been making notes in their file.

"Practically non-existent since she got knocked up," House quipped as he opened the door, peeking his head in. The three looked startled as they looked towards him. "Oh, wait… you didn't mean with her boss, did you?" He grinned.

"This is a private appointment!" Chase frowned as Cameron rolled her eyes. Both figured it would be better to just ignore what House was saying.

"We have a case…" House shrugged. "Why are you letting her do the ultrasound? You both have probably done more than she has…individually."

"Because it's her actual job." Chase frowned. "We'll be in later… go away."

"I couldn't even imagine doing an ultrasound on myself…" Cameron added.

"We've got a patient" House repeated as he glanced towards the screen. "Ewww. Fetuses are gross little mutants… hurry up. Orrrrr we can do the differentials in here…"

"Absolutely not!"

"Oh come on… you're just the tech. Probably didn't even go to medical school…"

"Be nice." Chase groaned. "Just… go…"

"I could probably page Foreman… Thirteen…" House continued as though he hadn't heard a word.

"Patient violation of privacy…. I don't want them here… I don't even want _you_ here." Cameron retorted, annoyed that her boss hijacked the appointment. She honestly wasn't too surprised House barged in, but she was still upset.

"It's not like you're naked… you're wearing paper…" House snorted, but he sighed dramatically "Fine… I can see when I'm not wanted. Just make sure…"

"One hour. I promise they'll be in your office in one hour." The tech retorted. She smiled, once the man was gone. "Do you want me to lock the door?"

"Can you?" Cameron asks with a laugh.

The tech laughed "So where were we?"

* * *

"So House said you had your big ultrasound today? That's exciting!" Foreman asked, seeing Chase and Cameron walk in.

Chase grinned as Cameron made a face. Foreman gave her a questioning look so she explained "It was until House waltzed in…"

"He didn't!" Thirteen looked at both halves of the couple.

"He did." Chase and Cameron replied. "So what's so important about this patient you couldn't let us have one appointment alone?" Cameron asked.

House grinned as he 'gave' the patient's history. He would rather talk about Cameron and Chase than their latest case so he rushed through it to make a point. "Patient brought in… moody, blah, blah, tinnitus, more medical stuff, trouble urinating as if that's important… are you wearing a bra?" He asked, glancing towards Cameron. She quickly crossed her arms over her chest as Foreman and Thirteen glanced towards her. "You're not…" He smirked. She frowned and glared at him. "It'll be tough to treat our patient with you holding your milk-jugs down by hand." Cameron glared at him. "Why aren't you wearing a bra? Do you really want to go see HR today?"

"Can you not notice my fiancée like that?" Chase frowned.

"Why?" House smirked, reaching for a pen and waved it towards Chase "Jealous? Green is not a good look on you…"

"Come on," Thirteen said, starting to walk into the room. "Let me see the file because he did such a great job…" House handed her the folder, he really didn't care. Foreman and Cameron were practically on her heels.

Foreman looked at the patient and the man standing beside the bed. "Are you his brother?"

"Boyfriend, we're dating," Both the patient and his boyfriend said, frowning towards the doctor.

Foreman blinked and turned to the boyfriend. "W-We need to ask you to leave…"

"And that's not sexist," House said loudly "we ask all gay guys to leave the room during patient history…"

"I've got nothing to hide…" Jacob snapped. "Can he stay?"

"Any history of sexually transmit—" Cameron asked, beginning with what seemed most likely.

"We're gay. It's not like we're diseased!"

"It's a standard question. Straight people can get STDs too… I mean she almost had HIV…" House answered, motioning towards the female doctors. Cameron glared at him and Thirteen looked shocked. House glanced between the patient and his boyfriend. "Though that's one point for homosexuals… no unexpected babies."

* * *

"Security! Help in here!" Foreman shouted as there was yelling and clanking of metal. Jacob was yelling as was Foreman and Chase. Security managed to get Jacob to the bed and hold him down as the doctors sedated him. Jacob's boyfriend watched from his corner of the room, he had no idea why Jacob snapped and he was just trying to stay out of the way.

House could only watch from behind the glass. He knew Cameron and Thirteen were running some of the urine samples, while Foreman and Chase were drawing the patient's blood. Once he was satisfied he brought his team back through the glass doors into the diagnostics room.

"Would any of you idiots like to explain what the hell happened?" House asked as Cameron and Thirteen took in the boys. Foreman glared towards the room and Chase felt his nose. Foreman seemed to be studying Chase, though he knew all the other doctors were glancing towards him.

"Not broken, thank God." He mumbled.

"Not broken?" Foreman asked.

"Not broken." Chase snapped, annoyed. He knew it wasn't Foreman's fault but Foreman wasn't hurt…

"What?!" Thirteen asked as Cameron blinked. House waited for an explanation.

"We were drawing blood, like you suggested… and he went psycho…" Foreman said. "Chase didn't even get the needle in him when he swung…"

"He got my eye." Chase added, angrily. It was swollen and already starting to redden.

"Why?" House demanded. The two men stared at House.

"We were joking with them… totally normal. Trying to calm them down, make them feel better about the hospital." Chase shrugged as Cameron checked his eye. He was pleased when she ruled it just broken capillaries that should clear up in a week. "He got angry…"

"I don't know… the boyfriend was laughing with Chase. He smiled at something that was said…"

"Possible jealousy?" Thirteen added.

"Probably…" Chase mumbled. "Which is stupid…"

"Exactly! Our patient saw how pregnant Cameron is…" Foreman frowned.

"But he doesn't know Chase and Cameron…" Thirteen added.

"Shut up!" House snapped. "Okay. Rule one. I want him restrained at all times… even when he's unconscious. Rule two. You don't go in the room unless he is unconscious… and you don't go alone, even if he is unconscious" He pointed to Cameron.

She frowned and rolled her eyes. "We've had dangerous patients before… security will be there the whole time he's under treatment…"

"Yeah… but if anything happens to your parasite, I'm pretty sure one of those 'fetuses are human too' groups would sue the hospital and I don't want someone who doesn't eat meat to own the hospital." House snapped. "Chase, pretty sure he'll have a grudge against you for making eyes at his man…"

"I didn't!" But it was useless to argue.

"So you only go in there as Foreman's spotter. Want to limit your time with our sumo wrestler…." House continued.

"So you don't care if he attacks me?" Foreman asked, annoyed.

"Chase is pretty…. And you used to play football. Pretty sure you're used to tackling…ughhh… this will end up being a whole thing when Cuddy hears about it." House groaned "Thirteen, you do that paperwork."

"I can't do the incident report. I don't know what happened."

"I don't want to do it" House argued. "Foreman, you do it." The man sighed and reached for the computer.

"Hello?" Jacob's boyfriend said, coming into the room. He saw House adding EXTREME AGGRESSION to the white board. "I just wanted to apologize… I'm Trevor… Jacob's not normally like that…"

"You mean he doesn't punch doctors for sport?" House snapped. Chase was sitting with an ice pack over his eye to try to decrease the swelling. He knew Allie's parents were coming in few days for Thanksgiving and he knew by then, he'd have an ugly black eye.

"He's never had a problem before…" Trevor admitted.

"He's never got angry?" Thirteen asked in disbelief.

"I-I mean… he's been angry… but never violent…" Trevor said. "I've been trying to get him to get checked out for weeks…he's changed…" He admitted.

"Behaviorally?" Foreman asked

"Sexually…" Trevor said softly. "Never… being satisfied… I mean… I've had to start taking…pills."

"So he's a guy…" House cut him off. "Go away."

"I just wanted to apologize again… on his behalf… he's sorry…" Trevor admitted.

* * *

"Damn, even with a bruised face… you're still pretty" House scowled, glancing at Chase. Thirteen and Cameron just smiled in amusement as the blonde looked uncomfortable. "So results?"

"Testosterone is high… like insanely high..." Thirteen spoke up

"Obviously! He's so alpha…" Foreman frowned as he held the urine results. "Wait… his estrogen is high…"

"That should cause low te—wait, how high?" Chase asked.

Cameron frowned. "But that… inverse…"

"Like our model!" Foreman and Chase said quickly at the same time.

"NO!" Cameron said quickly. "It's not..." But she was soon interrupted.

"Oh, you're just jealous because that guy was a better girl then you were." House answered and she frowned. Thirteen tried to follow along but the discussion was pulled in so many different directions.

"She-male!" House announced as all of them were talking at once, trying to be heard.

"If Jacob were…"

"Jacob is a male…"

"SHUT UP!" House said. "You are giving me a headache. Thirteen, you look like you just got told Christmas was cancelled and your family left you alone in the dark."

"What model?" She turned to Cameron.

"Catfight on the catwalk" House said as Chase groaned. "We had a she-male…"

Her blank stares were no longer amusing and so House didn't react when Chase and Cameron filled her in. "Hermaphrodite… we had a model a few years back… thought was a girl… until she had testicular cancer…"

"Which is not like Jacob." Cameron added as Foreman frowned.

"Could be…" Foreman insisted.

"How long has it been since you got some? You're confusing two VERY different parts of anatomy." House smirked as Chase and Cameron tried to hide their chuckles at that mental picture.

Foreman glared at his boss. Thirteen smirked. "So what next?"

House glanced around the room "Break time!" When his team looked at him skeptically, he grinned. "We bring in Wilson… under the guise of testicular cancer… get him to check out our guy and he'll go to Cuddy. She'll come crying to me." He seemed so pleased with himself. "We've done all we can do for now... Thanksgiving's coming up." He grinned as the subject changed.

"Wilson isn't going to be willing to be part of your scheme." Foreman reminded his boss.

"Are you going to tell him?" House asked.

Thirteen turned towards Cameron. "So… House mentioned you have HIV?"

She glared at their boss and groaned. "NO! I don't… I never did…I just… a patient… a patient we had, coughed up blood." She mumbled "But I ended up not getting infected."

"Good, or else you and Chase would both end up infected." House answered as he unwrapped his sandwich.

The couple rolled their eyes. Thirteen glanced towards them. Foreman turned towards House. "You really think Cuddy will fall for it?"

"Hopefully… she'll be busy with Rachel… apparently family likes seeing little brats for the holidays…Oh, yeah! That reminds me!" He grinned towards Cameron "You have people coming in, don't you?"

She nodded "Yeah, my parents and my brother…"

"For Thanksgiving?" Foreman asked.

"No! For Arbor Day!" House said and Chase and Thirteen tried to hide their smiles.

"But we can't all take time off for the holidays…" Foreman pointed out.

House frowned "Thought about that… you're not. It's only two and two… Two off, two on." He shrugged as he returned to his lunch.

"Which two?" Cameron asked as Foreman looked towards House.

House looked at them over his sandwich. "You two. Cameron and Foreman. Chase and Thirteen are resigned to Turkey sandwiches… or whatever the hospital cafeteria is going to have…"

"What…?" Chase frowned. "I'm with her… I get time off"

"Uhhh, no, Aussie…" House shook his head. "You never took Thanksgiving before?"

Chase frowned. "Last year she went to see her family… this year they're coming to her…" This year he wanted the time off. Usually, he'd volunteer to wok the holidays so the other hospital staff could have the time of to be with their families. He had no real reason to before but now he had Allison.

"I put in for the time months ago…" Cameron added. "Cuddy approved it!"

House sighed "Your whining is giving me a headache…" He complained. Seeing the looks on all four of them he added "Work it out. I really don't care." He took a bite of his sandwich.

"I'll trade—"

"No!" Foreman said quickly. "It's the first vacation I get in a while…"

House scoffed "Not like your mother would even remember it's Thanksgiving. Just see her on Saturday and tell her it's Thanksgiving…" Foreman was not amused.

"What if I trade with them?" Thirteen asked.

House looked at his sandwich then back at his fellows. He frowned at all of them. "You are already working then. You idiots are making my lunch very difficult to eat." Chase opened his mouth and House cut him off. "Why do you even care? Didn't you celebrate Thanksgiving a month ago?"

Chase blinked and stared dumbfounded at his boss. "I'm not Canadian!"

"Fake Brit. You all worship the Queen… she's on your money…"

"Our money doesn't smell like maple syrup." Chase argued.

"I don't think you're helping your case" Cameron pointed out.

Eventually, Cameron gave up the holiday to Thirteen, so she could have the days off with Chase. "They might have an easier travel time if we delay Thanksgiving, anyway." She said after lunch. House really didn't care about who took what days off but he knew if the entire department was gone, Cuddy would fault him.

"Besides, someone has to work clinic duty. The holidays bring out the craziness" Chase reminded her with a grin. "Plus we get bonus pay" He added and she laughed. That will definitely come in handy with the baby.

"Wait… I want Holiday Pay…" Foreman protested and Cameron shook her head.

"Absolutely not! You had your chance. You chose vacation over vacation pay." She laughed, teasing him. "So enjoy your next few days, Foreman and Thirteen."


End file.
